Mirror, Flower, Water, Moon: Sousuke's Story
by VraieEsprit
Summary: Fantasy, Reality and the line that blurs between. The illusionist and the illusions - a tale of how Aizen Sousuke's childhood might have been, and how he came to the point we see him now, steeped in secrets and guided by the Mirror of the Moon.
1. First Prophesy

_**Disclaimer & Introduction**_

_**  
**_Writing this was never my initial intention. In fact, it's sort of Rose's fault that I wrote it at all, though whether anything else will come of it I don't know. I'm not a particular fan of Aizen, but I've long been fixed on one thing that he said during his rebellion. That moment when he said that he tried to be himself but nobody understood the real him. Those words have stuck with me throughout the whole of the events that have followed and still they puzzle me now. And because of them, and because of Rose and the ideas I had surrounding his past, this story came to be.

If you have read Meifu's Gate's Prequel, you'll be familiar with the style I've chosen for this story, too. Instead of being a proper chaptered story, this is a collection of scenes from a possible childhood Aizen Sousuke may have experienced. We know very little about him, and what we do know may be somewhat illusionary in itself...making it hard to be certain of anything. But even so, I've tried to render him in as convincing a way as possible. It hasn't been my intention to excuse his later behaviour, nor to fully vilify him, either. Just to try and depict him in a way that makes sense to me.

Writing it has probably not made me any more a fan of Aizen overall, but trying to follow how he might think and how those thought processes might have come to be have made him all the more enigmatic, somehow, in my mind. That the lines between reality and fantasy have been blurred on many occasions - and may still remain blurred, right up to the final act.

As for the prophesy, it is somewhat explained but not fully explained in this story. People who have read Meifu's Gate will have some vague idea of the connection, but I've deliberately left this aspect of the story vague. Whether or not I'll elaborate on it at a future point I'm not sure...I guess we'll see.

Aizen Sousuke's actual history and character design is always the property of Kubo Tite and everything in this story may come to be contradicted in canon.

* * *

**Mirror, Flower, Water, Moon  
**_Aizen Sousuke's Prequel_

"_**The end will begin with a brightness – a light will surround one who above all others will shine and give joy to those who encircle him. He will be loved, yet those who love will not understand him. Dragons are the prophets of the danger that lies ahead."  
~**__The Black Prophesy_

The hills stretched out before him, barren, looping peaks and valleys almost colliding into each other to form rolling hills and gaping chasms all around. In the heart of one, there was the faintest glint of light and then a roar as the dragon forced its scaly nose through into the daylight, snorting brimstone and letting out a challenging bellow as it raised its head into the air. Two grey puffs of smoke coloured the clear, crisp morning air, and the dragon-slayer clasped his fingers more tightly around the hilt of his weapon, a look of resolve in his pale brown eyes.

"Sousuke-sama! Sousuke-sama!"

The voice of his nurse broke the illusion, and the young boy turned, a frown on his features as he raised his head to meet her gaze.

"I was fighting." He said reproachfully, tapping his wooden stick against the ground as if to illustrate his point. "Now the dragon's got away. You scared him an' now I can't fight him an' win the whole battle."

"Sousuke-sama…" The young maidservant paused, then grinned, reaching across to tap him gently on the nose. "I'm sorry. But if the dragon's gone now, surely all the people are saved? You should be glad that the danger's over – and besides, it's almost time for your afternoon meal."

The child – a boy of no more than four years eyed her solemnly for a moment, then he sighed, shaking his head wearily.

"But I wanted to fight it, Keiko." He said sadly. "An' beat it an' win an' be the hero. Cos that's what happens in the stories…but now it's gone away an' I can't see where it is. So I can't fight any more…an' it's boring."

Keiko eyed him fondly, holding out her hand towards him.

"If I know you, you'll quickly find another one to fight with." She said gently, amusement in her dark eyes. "They're sneaky things, those dragons. They come back when you least expect it. So I'm sure you'll get to be the hero again later, Sousuke-sama. But right now your food will become cold – and then we'll all be scolded for keeping you out here too long."

Sousuke let out another heavy sigh, but saw that he was beaten, for he set aside the stick, reaching dusty fingers up to take Keiko's proffered hand. She didn't understand about the dragons or the monsters or any of the other strange creatures that inhabited the grounds of the Aizen manor, and she never had – but even at four, Sousuke had become used to this. He was the only one who could see them, and therefore he was the only one who could fight them. It was a long and endless war between him and these curious beings – a war that relied on him to be the hero and keep his home and his family safe.

But Keiko was just a nursemaid, and she didn't see them. Therefore she didn't understand. And Sousuke was fond of Keiko, even though she wasn't able to see the dragons.

Even at four years old, Sousuke understood that if he lingered now, Keiko would be the one who would be blamed. He had seen it once before, when he had insisted on crawling into an old tree trunk after a three headed serpent that had tried to escape from his justice, and had become stuck between the edges of the wood. The family's gardener had had to come with something sharp and dangerous – Sousuke still did not know what it was, but he felt sure it would be effective against the slithering snake-creatures that lived behind the pond on the east lawn – and had had to cut him free. He had been splintered and grimy and late back to the house – and although his father's chief retainer had taken Keiko out of the boy's sight, Sousuke had heard his yells and the sound of hand against skin, followed by her crying.

In Sousuke's mind, this retainer was an ogre, not a person – but when he'd told his father, the older man had simply laughed and patted him on the head, whilst his brother had overheard and had persisted in mocking him about it for a whole two weeks together. Sousuke did not like his brother much either – a heavy, overbearing youth four years his elder, who liked to cause him pain when neither of their parents were looking. But there was not much to be done about this either – so Sousuke had focused his energy on the things he could do. And that amounted to patrolling the house and grounds, taking care of any demons or strange beasts that might threaten the security of their home.

As they entered the nursery – although Sousuke didn't like that word, because it implied he was still a baby and he knew he was not – a second nurse was already beginning to lay out the small corner table for his afternoon meal. Sousuke ate all his meals here, alone except for the companionship of the servants that attended to him. His brother, at eight, now ate his meals with their parents in the main dining hall – a fact Sousuke fiercely resented, but when he had raised the point, Keiko had gently reminded him that he still had times when he dropped his chopsticks and used his fingers – and on odd occasions had stabbed at the balls of rice with the narrow wooden implements instead of eating with the neat elegance a young lord was expected to do. Sousuke had not been able to convince her that if he hadn't acted, the rice would have bitten his fingers – she had simply ruffled his hair affectionately and told him that finger-biting rice wasn't allowed in the main dining hall, and so he would have to continue eating here.

As he settled himself on his cushion, waiting impatiently for the maid in charge to pour his miso soup into its little ceramic bowl and lay out all of the necessary implements that even a four year old apparently needed to take his food, he heard voices coming from the next room. It was his parents, talking among themselves as they sat in the day parlour, and Sousuke was not really interested in listening – but then he heard his name, and despite himself, curiosity began to take hold.

"It seems that Sousuke's going to surpass all expectations if he continues at this rate." That was his father, a note of pride in the man's voice as he spoke about his son. "His tutor tells me that he's already beginning to pick up kanji and can even write his name, although he's only been taking lessons since the winter. A boy of four, Sayume. Yet there's no doubt. I've seen it for myself – how fast he's starting to read and write. It seems he has a photographic memory – he sees something once and then he remembers it as clearly as if he'd studied it for years."

"If only he'd apply all the time he spends dreaming up fantasy games to his studies, I'm sure he'd move ahead even more quickly." That was his mother. "You know, it's fine enough for a four year old to have an active imagination, but even so…"

"Ah, he's still young. He'll outgrow it. Kids do." His father was dismissive. "Besides, if he started to surpass his brother, that would look bad. He's gifted and clever enough – people might start seeing competition between the two. No, best leave him to have his games. They are harmless, after all – a boy's way of learning about the world around him."

"I suppose that's true." His mother acknowledged. "You're right. Children's games are children's games. It's just disconcerting sometimes when he looks at you with such serious eyes and tells you that he's going to kill the _nue_ in the arbour and that I should stay well back until he's defeated it. I'm really not sure how to respond to it – Junsuke was never like that."

"All children are different." His father reflected. "We have a bright, healthy boy who's learning fast…we have much to be grateful for. After all…"

There was a pause here, and Sousuke was startled back to the present by the sudden clatter of a dish against his tray. He glanced around him, half expecting it to be the work of a sneaky _kitsune_, but it was just the maid finishing in the laying out of his food, and at his startled glance she smiled apologetically, bowing her head and then withdrawing from his side. Cautiously Sousuke picked up his chopsticks, making one more examination of the scene for any sign of a malingering mischief-maker, but his father's next words made him stop.

"After all, when he was born, they were worried about the portents he carried." The man said, his tones suddenly more serious than Sousuke had ever heard him before. "I've never believed in superstition, but…in this case…"

"A baby born into this family with spirit power is normally a case for concern, not joy." His mother spoke sadly, and Sousuke was surprised to hear it, for he had only ever heard that note in her voice when his grandmother had died six months earlier and they had all worn black to bury her in the family vault. "In this day and age, sealing such power is no longer as easy or as acceptable as it was in generations gone by – but even so, when they first told us…"

"What Sousuke doesn't know doesn't need to hurt him." His father spoke as though trying to convince himself as much as he was his wife. "He's strong, healthy, happy – if overly imaginitive at times. He's shown no signs of anything troublesome. If you listened to the family hysteria, you'd think the world was coming to an end…but no animals have died, no people have fallen sick – I almost wonder if we've been too fearful of an ancient superstition and its time we left that past prejudice behind. Now it's not uncommon for a child to have spirit power and yet go on to be accepted and loved. And there's no need to even talk about it. Sousuke is Sousuke – our son and that is all. What he doesn't need to know we won't tell him. That way he'll never learn to use it…and no harm can ever come of it."

"You're right." His mother sounded relieved. "Sousuke is Sousuke. He's our son and there's no need to see him as anything else. He's a normal, healthy four year old and that's all that counts. There's no need for us to worry. Everything's fine."


	2. Second Prophesy

_**In the darkness demons will hunt him. Above all of these is the voice of one demon who seeks to save and to destroy in one fell swoop. This demon must be slain by whatever means before the child reaches six years, else its torments will wreak havoc on the house and all will regret and repent in vain. Blood will colour the world in that instant – stains of death that can never be removed. **_

_**It would be better to kill the child than to let him hear the demon speak.**_

_~The Black Prophesy_

He was walking again, through the forests and beyond the hills, down, down, down on an endless pathway to what seemed like the centre of the world. There were no birds singing in the branches that morning, nor were there clouds in the sky overhead, and everything about him was still, like a picture painted to hang in his father's study by one of the era's great Seireitei artists.

The world's colours were vivid, yet slightly blurred and textured as though brought gently from the canvas by the slight touch of a painter's brush. There was an air of unreality to them, but as he reached out his fingers, Sousuke was able to run the tips against the trunks and feel the grooves in the wood as though he was in the gardens of his family home.

This place was not the Aizen manor, but another place – yet Sousuke was not afraid of it. On the contrary, he loved new places and new scenes, and his childish curiosity kept him moving forward, even though there were no familiar faces anywhere around him.

For now he did not want anyone else to find him. For now he just wanted to see where he could go and what was at the end of this long path. He didn't need his parents, or his brother, or the servants to guide him. He could do this alone, and he would.

Keiko and the other servants had always drummed into him that if he went off alone, bad things might befall him and someone might attack him. Sousuke did not understand this logic.

There was no fear in being alone. Even at only six years old, Sousuke had learnt this fact and absorbed it into his whole being. When you were alone, that meant nobody else was there to interfere in your games, or sneak up from behind and grab your arms, yanking them back so hard that it was impossible not to cry out and then be teased for your reaction. Being alone wasn't dangerous in itself.

To his young and inexperienced mind, the truth was simple and literal. If you were alone, nobody _could_ be there to attack you. If you were truly alone, that meant nobody else _was_ there, whether they were friend or foe. In fact, it was more dangerous to be with someone – and Sousuke was naturally curious, but also naturally cautious. Even knowing someone did not make them safe – six years with his bullying older brother had taught him that even close family did not necessarily mean allies. Therefore he was safe enough by himself, and he liked being by himself. He was not stupid enough to fall into holes or be eaten by the many wild animals Keiko liked to tell him were lurking in the forests near the Aizen home. He would not get into danger, no matter how far he roamed.

To Sousuke, that was simply common sense.

At length, he could see the end of the pathway, as it curved over a steep incline down towards the gleaming surface of a lake or pool below. In the slightly false daylight, the water glinted and shone almost as bright as though it were the sun itself, and, his imagination captured, Sousuke quickened his pace, hurrying down to the water's edge.

As he reached it, he realised that it was not a natural pool at all, but carefully bricked around the entire perimeter into what looked like an almost perfect circle. The water was pure and clear, the smooth liquid almost right up to the edge of the brick surround, and Sousuke reached out a hesitant finger to touch it, expecting it to be cold.

But as his skin brushed against the surface, he did not feel either cold or hot. Nor did he feel any sensation of dampness, but instead it seemed like he had plunged his hand into fragmented ripples of light, real and yet not real, there and yet not there.

He drew his hand back, trying to work this out in his mind. In his six years he had seen many things – fought many monsters, braved many demons and protected his family home from all kinds of unexpected things. Yet he had nothing in his memory to explain why this pool was not truly a pool, and why the water, when he touched it, was not water at all.

Slowly he began to walk around the edge of the pool, realising as he did so that it was a lot bigger than it had first seemed. What had appeared to be an easy, quick stroll around the outside now seemed far more overwhelming – and what had been a clear and open pathway began to narrow and become thick with briars and knotweed at just the right level to trip him up if he was not vigilant about where he put his feet.

Finally, he could go no further, for in the middle of nowhere, a door loomed, blocking the pathway completely. It was a strange door, for it had no hinges, and was attached to no wall. Instead it seemed to be a door into the trees – as though the plants themselves were part of a castle's outer fortress guarding whatever secrets lay within.

On the door was a brass plaque, and hammered into the plaque in old, almost undistinguishable style were two Japanese characters.

Sousuke squinted at them, reaching up to touch them with his index finger.

"Water. Moon." He murmured, and as he said the words, the door began to creak, the whole frame enveloped in light as it began to swing slowly back. Sousuke drew breath sharply, taking a step back as the light grew brighter and brighter to reveal a world beyond the one in which he stood, its night sky a stark contrast to the daylight that had lit his path thus far and in the heavens, glorious and pristine in its whiteness was the shape of the moon, round and full. At the sight of it, Sousuke's eyes widened, and he turned back to look at the pond – but it was gone, and in that moment Sousuke realised why.

The pond had gone to the sky and had become the moon.

What was this place?

Fascinated, Sousuke stepped through the doorway, only half aware that as he did so it disappeared behind him, the uneven ripples in the atmosphere smoothing and replacing it with more trees as though it had never been there in the first place. His gaze still on the bright, perfect moon, Sousuke kept moving forward, feeling drawn to its brightness. Excitement rushed through his young heart – was that really the pool he had touched? Had his fingers really brushed against the moon – such a beautiful, dazzling moon had really been within his reach?

As he stepped through yet another row of trees, he saw the castle for the first time – its grey stone looming out of the darkness as though announcing its presence formally. Had it been there from the start? Sousuke wasn't sure, but he ran towards it anyway. As he drew nearer, he saw the same two characters engraved on the thick wooden door that he had seen before.

Water Moon.

The words seemed to echo inside his head unbidden. Was that the name of the castle?

His touch once more opened the door and he stepped over the threshold, finding himself in the dusty, old fashioned entrance of a mediaeval fortress. It was not like the castles he had seen in ancient scrolls nor the ones painted in pictures on his father's walls, yet even so the insides seemed to fit the mystery of the outsides. Light penetrated only through the windows, shaped like long thin slashes through the stone and pitched high above the level of the floor. Great tapestries depicting men on horseback – but not men like Sousuke had ever seen, and wearing clothing that he could not recognise – hung neglected on the walls, the dust so thick that he could only just make out the faces that lurked beneath. Wooden torches hung in alcoves, but none of them were lit – yet the light of that moon gleaming through those tiny, arrow-slit windows was enough to give Sousuke a clear view of his surroundings.

Into the stone around the doorframes was carved images – and as Sousuke moved to examine them more closely, he recognised some of the creatures against which he had spent his early years fighting – the dragons and serpents that only he had ever been able to see.

As he gazed into the stone-moulded eyes of one such beast, a voice echoed through the stone walls.

**"_Rescue me."_**

At the sound of it, Sousuke swung around, but there was nobody there.

**"_Rescue me."_**

The voice spoke again, resonant and urgent, as though penetrating right through to the heart of Sousuke's senses. It was not a male voice, nor a female voice – it was both and yet neither at the same time, and the unique pitch of its tone rippled through to the very core of Sousuke's being. Yet the young boy could see nobody.

Still, he was a hero, wasn't he? Wasn't that why he had always chased the dragons and fought the serpents and done his best to keep the monsters at bay? So instead of running away, Sousuke raised his voice, glancing all around him as he tried to work out where the speaker was.

"Where are you? Tell me where you are. I can't see you…where are you?"

**"_Here. Before you. If you open your eyes, you'll see."_**

"I can't see you!" Sousuke exclaimed, shaking his head. "There's nobody here. Nobody here except me!"

**"_If you can't see me, you can't rescue me. If you can't reach me, I cannot show you the way."_ **The voice sounded mournful, and despite himself Sousuke felt troubled.

"I want to help you!" He protested. "But I don't know where…I…"

He faltered, as out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of movement, and he swung around, letting out a gasp of dismay as suddenly the patterned weavings of one of the wall hangings began to writhe and swirl into life, great jaws opening to reveal gleaming white teeth and a sudden surge of hot, fetid breath pouring into the chamber. The beast was not quite dragon, not quite serpent, not quite anything Sousuke had ever seen before. But whatever it was, now was not the time to define its species. Sousuke grabbed out for the first thing that he could as the monster weaved its scaled body around to launch a direct attack on him. His hands closed around a candlestick, and he swung it desperately in front of him, trying to bring the monster down.

But it was no use. The weapon burst through the creature's body, yet still it kept on coming, its jaws surging ever closer and its sharp claws raking through the flesh of the young boy's arm. He let out a cry of surprised pain, stumbling back as the monster bore down on him, and sweat beaded his brow as he struggled to refind his footing. Then, as he began to feel it was hopeless, he caught sight of something in the moonlight.

The monster had been woven with expert skill, yet at the tip of his tail, some of the threads had begun to come loose with age and neglect. Even now, as it surged towards him once again, Sousuke realised for the first time that his opponent had not lost its woven form – that even though it moved and lived, it could not shed its embroidered skin completely.

To think was to act, and he darted forward, grabbing the monster suddenly by the tail and ripping at the threads that were hanging loose one by one. The beast screamed and writhed, but it could not escape, and as the threads tore one by one through the creature's whole body, it began to fade and disintegrate, falling into a pile of helpless, harmless scraps as Sousuke finally released his grip.

The monster had been both real and not real, but as Sousuke glanced at his scraped arm, the wound it inflicted had been genuine. It stung in the cold air and he winced, instinctively reaching across to touch it.

As he did so, he glanced around him. The voice had silenced, he realised, yet now he could feel it – a pulsing, intense presence from somewhere nearby. His gaze was drawn back towards the place where the monster's tapestry hung, now plain and devoid of any pattern, and as he looked at it, he realised that the aura was coming from here. Forgetting his wound for the time being, he crossed the floor tentatively, curiosity overcoming his apprehension as he reached up blood-specked fingers to pull down the cloth.

Beneath it was a mirror, glittering at the edges in a petal design he had not seen before. The surface was smooth and clear, unblemished and unscratched despite its obvious age, and fascinated once more, Sousuke reached out those same blooded fingers to touch the glass.

At his touch, the surface glimmered and energy seemed to prickle through his skin.

**"You found me."**

The voice was back, and now Sousuke knew that it had come from the mirror, though he could not clearly see any way in which it could have spoken.

**"You freed me from the monster."**

The voice seemed warm now, relieved and happy, and Sousuke felt the same emotions reflected within his own heart.

"Who are you?"

**"A friend."**

"Is this your castle, Mirror-friend?"

**"No. It's your castle."** The voice from the mirror seemed amused. **"A castle built around me to keep me here for eternity. Your ancestors built this castle – it was patterned into your genes and it's stood here ever since. Waiting. Waiting for one who could open the door…and find its way inside. They didn't want you to find me, so they left the monster there to keep me a prisoner. But you've rescued me anyway. And now…I belong to you. Just as this castle does…I belong to you."**

"You…belong to me? This all…belongs to me?" Sousuke was taken aback, and the mirror laughed.

**"Everything in this world belongs to you. You simply have to find the way and time to take it."** It agreed.** "But you have time yet. You will learn. Your blood awakened me, and so now I will teach you all that I know. All that I've learnt since this castle was first formed to keep me here."**

"I don't understand."

**"You're still a child, so you won't understand…maybe not for some years, yet."** The mirror seemed thoughtful, as though it was only half speaking to Sousuke directly.** "I've been passed through the genes of this family from member to member, sealed and locked and kept dormant by the monster that was woven to confine me. But you can't change the future – you can only postpone it. I've waited a long time for one to come find me. Now you have…things won't be the same again."**

"I don't understand." Sousuke repeated, feeling foolish. "I don't know what you mean, Mirror-friend. I don't understand at all."

**"Then its time to go back."**

The voice was suddenly anxious, as though it had seen something that Sousuke could not in the shadows that hung heavy around the castle.

**"It becomes dangerous here. Go back. Find your path…all will be clear in time, but for now, go!"**

"But…"

**"Releasing my seal releases danger. Demons, monsters, creatures of fire and death."** Now the mirror's voice was literally urging him to leave. **"I will be safe here. I cannot be destroyed. But you…your soul…is still young. Leave here, Sousuke-sama. Leave here until you are stronger, and do not speak of our meeting to anyone. The demons will hunt you in any and every way you can. We must not meet here again - not until you are strong enough to find, fight and defeat them all alone."**

Despite himself, fear gripped Sousuke's heart and he turned, finding himself running back towards the door of the castle as the whole world around him shook and trembled with a sudden earthquake. Was it imagination, or had the walls begun to crack and crumble – was it only an illusion, or in the trees beyond did he see the glittering eyes of predators, ready to lunge at him and tear his body limb from limb?

It was starting to rain, and as Sousuke reached up to brush the wet from his face, he was startled and unnerved to see that his fingers were covered in something red. He glanced down at his body, seeing that the water was not water at all, but blood, and that the perfect white of the moon had been tinged with crimson – an omen of ill fortune. Was the pool now raining death down onto him? Sousuke was disorientated and confused, for it had gone from such flawless beauty to such sinister danger in the twinkling of an eye. The candlestick was still clutched in his hand, and he swung it vainly, even as the creatures began to circle him.

He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out, no matter how hard he tried. And the blood rain continued to fall, harder and harder as a storm threatened overhead…

Sousuke opened his eyes, breathing hard to find himself suddenly back in his chamber, the walls secure and dark around him and the castle, the monsters and the mirror all fading from his mind. Was it a dream? Just a dream? He drew breath into his lungs, trying to calm down. Had he screamed out loud in his sleep, or had that also just been his imagination – had he just listened to one too many stories before going to bed?

He sat up, clutching his blankets to him, and as he did so, he realised for the first time that they were wet. Anxiety gripped him as he fumbled to activate the chamber's unreliable lamp, and as he did so, he wished that he had not.

The sheets, once white, were now mottled with red, and a misshapen heap lay at the foot of his bed, lifeless eyes staring up in fear as a blade protruded from her chest. Another similar form lay curled up towards the door, a trail of blood leading towards where it had fallen, while blood smeared up the door itself, as though the dying person had made to reach the handle in order to escape.

The dead bodies were his nurse, Keiko, and the housemaid, Akemi – yet like this it was as though they too had been transformed into demons, their gazes grotesque and their forms mangled and stained with blood.

Sousuke opened his lips, this time letting out a real, earsplitting shriek that brought footsteps flying towards his room. The door was flung open and he heard the exclamation of his tutor as he surveyed the mess, followed by the anxious tones of his mother.

"Sousuke? Sousuke? Oh my God…what happened? What happened?"

"Sousuke-sama! Good lord…Akemi and Keiko…!"

"Sousuke, are you all right?" Sayume pushed her way through the carnage, hurrying to her son's side, for the young boy was shaking in confusion and horror. Was this real or was it still part of his dream? He no longer knew for sure.

"I was sleeping." He choked out. "And then I woke…and this…was like this…and I…I…"

He faltered, words failing him, and as he did so, Sayumi grabbed his arm, pulling back his tattered sleeve with an exclamation as she noticed the injury to his arm and the reddish swelling that surrounded it.

Sousuke too now stared at it in confusion – had that not happened in his dream? Had it not been a dream at all?

"Am I still asleep, Kaasama?" He whispered, and Sayume hugged him tightly, shaking her head.

"No. No, but it will all be all right. I promise. It will be all right."

"Akemi and Keiko have both been badly slashed…and Keiko has a blade through her heart. It looks like one of the household knives." The tutor raised his head from where he had been examining the bodies with some revulsion. "It looks…as though Akemi came here to hurt the young master, and Keiko defended him. In the fight…they both died."

"Keiko…died…protecting Sousuke?" Sayume was horrified. "And Akemi…?"

"Last night Akemi was caught taking money from the kitchen and was forced to give notice. She was to leave at the end of the week." The tutor said grimly. "Keiko told me herself when she was preparing Sousuke-sama's room for the night. I suppose…she snapped and thought she'd take something more precious. Keiko…was probably very brave, and gave her life for Sousuke-sama's sake."

"But it was the demons…" Sousuke murmured. "In the forest, with the red eyes. And the castle…because I fought the monster…"

"Shh, Sousuke. Shh." Sayume hushed him, shaking her head. "Come on. Come with me. Tonight you'll sleep with your father and I. All will be well. Come with me."

Sousuke did not resist as she lifted him gently from his bed, taking him from the room and calling for maidservants to come help bathe and change him as she went. Yet as he was taken out into the hallway, he turned back just in time to see Keiko's eyes once more.

"It was the demons." He whispered, too quietly for his mother to hear. "The demons killed Keiko."

Then he was borne away from the scene, the door shut behind him, and he remembered the mirror's words.

**"_Leave here until you are stronger, and do not speak of our meeting to anyone. The demons will hunt you in any and every way you can. We must not meet here again - not until you are strong enough to find, fight and defeat them all alone."_**

His eyes narrowed in resolve, and he clenched his small fists as he made up his mind.

_I will find them, Mirror-friend. All of them, and kill them too. I'll fight all of the demons and destroy them. Just like I did the one that imprisoned you. Even if nobody else can see them, I can. And I will kill them. I'll get strong. Just you wait and see._


	3. Third Prophesy

_**There will be not one who stands before him – no prince, nor man, nor soldier of the spirit world who can prevent this misfortune. One will die and his death will be mourned as great tragedy, but for the one who lives, the tragedy is greater still. The demon who will destroy all grows stronger, and can no longer be destroyed.**_

_~The Black Prophecy_

"That's good, Sousuke-sama. You're getting the hang of it – your sword arm grows stronger day by day!"

The Sasakibe clansman stood back, resting his blade against his leg as he gazed approvingly at his young companion. "You've listened well to all that I've tried to teach you and it's paying off. I'm pleased with you! You're working hard."

"I like to hold a sword, _shishou_." Sousuke offered him a grin, setting his own weapon aside as he reached for the gourd of water that stood on the wall nearby. "I can't explain why, but it feels as though I've always been meant to – and I like practicing with it, too. Men bear swords in this world, don't they? Even in my family, that tradition's still there."

"Indeed." His companion nodded his head. "Your grandfather was a great sword fighter in his time, so I've heard, and his father before that, too. Even though these days ordinary swordsmen are kept to the tournaments and _matsuri_ circuits – it's still a great skill and who knows when war may come again? It's the duty of every well-born young man to know how to fight and defend himself. No good leaving it all to these shinigami folks, with their magic swords and strange spells. You can't rely on that, not if you compare it to a proper, sharp-edged blade. One day, after all, a man will have a wife and children who'll depend on him – and if you can't defend your own land against invading demons, how can you call yourself the master of that household?"

"Against invading demons." Sousuke's brown eyes narrowed, and he nodded his head. "Yes, I think so too. The world is full of dangerous things, even if you can't always see them right away. And you're right, _shishou_. It's better to be prepared. I want to be as strong as I can be – so I'm ready, if danger comes."

"Of course you are." The man grinned. "But for today, that's enough. I have another errand pressing and have to ride from here directly – would you like me to come again tomorrow afternoon, or will you be busy with your studies then?"

"My grades are fine, but Father insists I spend all of Wednesday and Thursday at study nonetheless." Sousuke said regretfully. "So I suppose not, though it's perhaps not my personal choice. Father is quite boring on the subject, actually…but he is still Father, and so I have no choice."

"Ah, well. A good brain is also a weapon. So I've heard and so I've seen in my time." The other man grinned at him merrily. "Till we next meet, then, Sousuke-sama – keep working as you have been and you'll be ready to enter a tournament or two yourself at this rate."

"Yes, _shishou_." Sousuke nodded, and the older man saluted him playfully before turning and heading back towards the family stables. There were not usually horses tethered there, for, like many animals, the species was becoming rarer in Seireitei with the changing levels of spirit pollution in the air, yet occasionally a visitor would still ride in, and on other occasions, Sousuke had been fascinated to stand at the stable door, watching the unusual creature stamp its hooves and snort as it flicked its ears against flies and the summer wind.

Not today, however, for the sun was high in the sky and even though tomorrow he would be back in the classroom, today was still far from over.

He glanced at the sword.

He still had time to practice before the sun set.

It was five years now since the mysterious death of the two house servants in his bedroom, yet Sousuke had never forgotten it, nor the strange dream that had preceded it. He had never had that dream since, nor heard the voice of the mirror that had spoken to him so urgently. Yet although the family had tried hard to remove all trace of the unfortunate incident from people's minds, Sousuke had not forgotten Keiko and Akemi and the way they had looked in death, twisted and bloodsoaked with their eyes glittering with sightless terror.

He had not spoken of his dream to anyone, but deep down he was still as certain now as he had been then. Something _evil_ had killed the two servants. It had not been a case of one turning on the other, nor had it been an attempt on his life. The demons were there and they would come back. And when they did, Sousuke would be ready for them. When they did, Sousuke would be trained and ready to strike.

He had seen his brother practicing with swords not long after that fateful night, and had immediately begged his father that he be allowed to take up the hobby too. His father had at first been reluctant, but on Sousuke's insisting had relented, understanding that the boy's fright had contributed to his sudden enthusiasm. It was not an unrespectable hobby, even if for most people it was a superfluous one now that shinigami squads roamed Seireitei in numbers, taking care of all manner of disturbances and dangers as well as undertaking their duties in what Sousuke had heard called the 'Real World'.

He had once asked his mother why it had that name, and she had laughed, telling him that it was just a name and that he shouldn't think about it so deeply. But Sousuke had always thought about everything deeply and he had continued to brood on it in private, turning the thought over in his mind each night before he went to sleep.

If that world was a real world, then was his world not real? Was his life, then, false…was everything that surrounded him a dream or a lie?

Try as he might, he could not shake that concept from his mind. That nothing that surrounded him was truly there – but that this world…this Real World…held the key and the answers to the mysteries that he could not explain.

But only shinigami ever went to the Real World – and Aizen children did not become shinigami. It had always been that way – it would probably always be that way. Sousuke's father disdained shinigami, and his mother flat out feared them. Therefore Sousuke had no way of finding out about them, nor any opportunity to learn whatever secrets they kept about worlds beyond this one.

"Do you really think you're ever going to be good enough to fight someone with that thing?"

A sharp voice penetrated his thoughts and he turned, his eyes clouding as he took in the mocking expression of his older brother Junsuke. Though only four years separated them, they had never been close – Junsuke was brash, domineering, and had always delighted in tormenting his smaller, slighter little brother in any way he could possibly find. Sousuke had never told tales – he had never seen the point in it, for Junsuke was as good a liar as he was a bully – but he had done his best to keep distance between the two of them at any opportunity, and for the most part, his strategy had succeeded. Even in the schoolroom, their hours of study differed, but now, in the grounds, there was nothing to stop Junsuke from coming to practice with his sword – and Sousuke felt certain that his brother had come there particularly to mock his younger sibling.

"I intend to be strong enough, aniue." He said evenly now, grasping the hilt of his sword and swinging it absently from left to right as he adjusted his grip to one that felt more natural. "_Shishou_ thinks that I'm doing well, and so I intend to keep working as hard as I can to improve. _Shishou_ even said I might be able to enter a tournament, if I keep on like this."

"A little runt like you? You'll have your head swept off your shoulders the first time you step over the line of the arena." Junsuke snorted, shaking his head in derision. "You're still a kid, and you're nothing special. You couldn't even take my sword, let alone an adult's."

"I wonder about that." Sousuke spoke primly, but his pride surged inside of him at Junsuke's blunt words. His brother was really an unappealing person, he reflected absently, taking in the broad-muscled frame and the thick fingers that wrapped themselves around the hilt of his weapon. His small, deep-set eyes seemed too close together on account of the wideness of his cheekbones and the uneven cut of his nose seemed to hang at an odd angle above a rather square jaw. A tail of uneven brown hair hung limply down his back like a rat's tail, the ribbon tied half-heartedly so that the knot was already working its way undone.

Most people did not consider Junsuke ugly, for although he was not as handsome as his young brother seemed likely to be, he had what his father called a 'good warrior face' and took pride in the fact he bore a strong resemblance to his paternal grandfather. Still, Sousuke had the kind of brain that focused intently on individual details and he could not easily ignore the asymmetric line of his brother's face nor the slouched way in which his shoulders hung forward from his body, making him look more like an ape than a person in the way he stood. It was hard to believe by looking at him that most of his ill-proportioned weight was muscle and that he was in fact quite a skilled fighter – but perhaps that was some of the reason for his success, since Sousuke was sure that any opponent looking at him must immediately expect an easy fight.

At Sousuke's calm observation, Junsuke's brow creased, and he strode forward, stretching out his sword and tapping him brother on the shoulder as if to issue a warning.

"You ought to watch your tongue, runt." He said blackly. "I'm four years older and four years burlier, with four years more experience than you. What I don't know you haven't even got close to learning yet – your _shishou_ is a fool if he thinks you're even close to tournament level."

"I wonder about that." Sousuke repeated, staring at his brother with calm, unruffled eyes as he raised his hand to brush the offending blade away from him. "_Shishou_ says you shouldn't play around with swords like that, aniue. Someone might get hurt."

"Someone might. You." Junsuke's brows knitted together and he flicked his weapon around, driving it suddenly towards his companion's own. Sousuke was taken off guard, but even so his reactions were lightning fast and so, more by fluke than any great show of skill he managed to bring his own weapon between Junsuke's driving thrust and his gut, pushing it away from him with some difficulty as he registered the force of his companion's attack.

He had not been playing this time, Sousuke realised belatedly. The glint of annoyance in those dark, unpleasant eyes was coupled with something else – a thirst to fight and to keep fighting until his opponent was battered and bloody and begging for his life on the cobbled ground.

He took a step back, eying his brother more warily as suddenly he was reminded of the mirror's words once again.

"_Releasing my seal releases danger. Demons, monsters, creatures of fire and death. Leave here until you are stronger, and do not speak of our meeting to anyone. Until you can fight and defeat them all alone."_

Demons.

Sousuke's lip thinned, and his grip tightened on his blade.

Was his brother one of the demons? Had it been his brother, then, who had killed Keiko and Akemi? Had he been wrong all along – had his family, too, been deceived? Perhaps it had been Junsuke who had tried to enter Sousuke's room – had killed Keiko and Akemi when they tried to protect him, and had then fled when Sousuke had begun to stir.

Perhaps his brother _was_ one of the demons. The more Sousuke thought about it, the more possible he thought this was.

Junsuke had always hated him, even from the moment he was born. He had never revealed this side to his parents, but Sousuke had never been fooled by the sugar-coated words and the pretence of fraternal protectiveness. Junsuke had often looked at him this way – as though he was an eyesore that he would like to gouge from the family tree and send scattering for the carrion birds to peck at. Junsuke had never liked him, or wanted him. And Sousuke found that that feeling had long since been mutual.

"Do you still think you can fight me, runt?" Junsuke asked now, his voice dropping to a low hiss as he closed in on his companion. "I'm not fooled by you. I never have been. _You_ were the one who should not have been born – and yet everyone still crowds around you, as though you have some great gift. Would that those foolish maids had managed to slit your throat five years ago! You don't belong here. And it's time I put that right!"

He swung his sword down, but this time Sousuke was prepared, leaping back and allowing the weapon simply to glance off his own. His brother's training was more complete, but he had nimbleness on his side, and he knew that if Junsuke was really serious, he would probably have to use it.

For some reason, it did not distress him that his brother so intently wanted to get rid of him. On the contrary, it seemed to make sense. Junsuke had always been in the shadows – watching, waiting. Now he was acting on his instincts – and Sousuke found that far easier to understand.

If something was your enemy, you killed it. Hadn't he learnt that when he was very small, fighting the dragons and demons in the gardens with his wooden stick sword? Perhaps he had been the only one who had seen them, but even now Sousuke had never doubted that they were real. They were as real as the young adolescent who stood before him now, blade bared and resolution in his eyes. Junsuke had killing intent written all over him, oozing from his body. And Sousuke found he was not afraid of it. Instead, he felt relief.

"You _are _one of them, after all." He murmured, more than half to himself, but Junsuke heard him, casting him a dark look as he lunged in for a fresh attack. As the weapons clattered together again, the older boy pushed forward, his eyes boring into Sousuke's own.

"I'm one of them? One of what?" He demanded, and Sousuke's eyes narrowed as he once again struggled to push the older boy back.

"One of the demons." He said thickly. "One of the monsters that lurks here, waiting for me to fight it. It makes sense now – that you're one of those demons. I thought you should be. Now I know you were."

"You make no sense." Junsuke spat back, and as Sousuke swung his weapon towards his brother, the older boy dodged, managing a counter-strike that very nearly sliced through Sousuke's _hakamashita_. "You never have – with your demons and your monsters and everything else. _Things_ happen around you. Strange things. Unnatural things. I've heard them say it – I heard it when you were born, Sousuke. That you were born under an unlucky sign, and that you were a tainted child. They talked about sealing you away – they said you could be a monster, but Mother couldn't bear it, and Father couldn't see her cry. So they kept you. And even now, they watch over you – even though servants die in your room in horrible ways."

"That was _your _doing, wasn't it?" Sousuke snapped back. "You've always hated me, so you wanted to kill me too!"

"Would that I had thought of it, because those fool women didn't stand a chance." Junsuke spat back. "Do you even _know_ the stories, runt? The stories about children like you, who see things that aren't there and around whom strange things happen? Do you know that when you were a baby, we shared the same room? Only I couldn't sleep when you were there – whenever I closed my eyes, monsters and nightmares haunted my sleep, or I'd feel hands about my throat, trying to stifle my air. I told Mother your crying disturbed me, so they separated us, and then I slept just fine. I never told anyone the truth, because you were the perfect son with the perfect appearance and nobody would have believed me. But I knew. I _understood_. There was something wrong about you. Something right from the start. And it's still there now. Bothering me. The way you hold that sword…you don't care at all, do you, that I might fight to kill you? You don't even care a little bit. I'm your brother, yet you're completely calm."

He stood back, lowering his blade.

"I wanted to test you. To see if you screamed and cried and begged me to stand back, like a normal little brother would." He murmured. "I wanted to make you afraid of me, because that at least would be something I could judge. But you didn't. I knew you wouldn't. You don't feel things like that. Deep down, you don't feel anything at all. Nothing is real to you, is it? It's all one big game. Me waving my sword at you is simply another battle with your fantasy world demons."

Sousuke paused, then lowered his own weapon, staring at Junsuke in cold, wordless silence, and Junsuke nodded.

"Yes. Just like that. That's the real soul that lives inside my brother." He said bitterly. "This cold, empty expression which doesn't reflect even the slightest fragment of light. The night the servants died in your room – you didn't cry for them. You screamed, sure. You let up a yell enough to raise the ghosts of all our ancestors to your side. But once you were cleaned of the blood, you calmed down. The next day, you were just as you are now. As though it hadn't happened. As though it never happened. As though the nurse who had attended you since you were born hadn't suddenly been murdered in your room."

"I was just a child." Sousuke spoke quietly, but every word seemed to resound through the air around them. There was something in Junsuke's aura that he didn't like, yet he could not quite put his finger on why. "Children don't understand death. I didn't understand."

"You understood." Junsuke said darkly. "You're just repeating what Mother told you – that's all, but I already said that I'm not fooled. Their deaths were simply a ripple in reality to you. I even think that your own death wouldn't phase you. It's not natural, Sousuke. You're not natural. Nothing about you is. And I'm fed up with it. I want to see who you really are. I want to see my brother."

"You are looking at your brother." Sousuke's tones remained even, his gaze emotionless as he met Junsuke's frustrated one. "Whether you like it or not, that's how it is. You and I are brothers."

"There's an old legend that haunts this family." Junsuke murmured, his eyes never leaving Sousuke's face. "About a monster who will destroy everything that anyone has ever held dear. You know what I think, Sousuke? I think that monster is _you_. I think you're the one who's going to turn into that monster. And so I decided that I should stop you. Kill you, if I had to. Because otherwise you'll kill other people. Lots of people. You killed those two servants – I'm sure it was you. And now…I'm going to kill you. You didn't react to my attack – you didn't care that I attacked you. So I was right all along. You are that one. And I intend to remove you so you can't hurt anyone else."

Sousuke stared at Junsuke for a moment, unsure how to respond to his brother's sudden flood of accusations. His first impulse was to deny them – that he had done nothing to Keiko or Akemi, that he had no intention of destroying anyone, and that his only interest was hunting down and destroying demons – the demons who had truly been responsible for the murder of the two household servants.

But the words stuck in his throat, and instead something seemed to flood through him, resonating out across his senses as it filled him with a sudden, unshakeable calm. Slowly he nodded his head, feeling detached from the uncertainty he had felt only a moment before.

"All right." He said quietly, his expression composed as he set down his weapon on the ground. "If you think you can, go ahead. I'm waiting for you, aniue."

At his calm response, Junsuke seemed once more taken aback, and Sousuke realised in that moment that his brother was actually afraid of him. This information only fed his strength further, and he sat down on the ground, folding his arms and meeting his companion's gaze pensively.

"If I'm a monster, you should probably kill me." He said softly, though the words and the voice with which he spoke were only half his own, flowing off his tongue like the water of the mysterious moon pool without him being able to consider or check them. "That's what happens, after all. Demons get killed. Monsters get killed. That's how the world works. So if I am a monster, Junsuke-nii, you should slit my throat."

He raised his head to expose his jugular.

"Why are you waiting?" He prompted. "Isn't this what you wanted?"

Junsuke swallowed hard, taking a hesitant step towards the younger boy. His aura was prickling with uncertainty, and his weapon shook in his hand as though he suddenly lacked conviction in what he had said. Sousuke sat perfectly still, watching him out of the corner of his eye. He did not feel afraid – Junsuke's killing intent had all but dissipated into fear and confusion, and he knew that this battle he had won. Yet the boy's feeble reaction filled him with derision.

_**Fighting a battle is all about resolution.**_

Suddenly Sousuke felt the mirror's voice echoing through his thoughts.

_**If you aren't firm when you begin that you can kill your enemy, you will die in the attempt. He has no resolve and he will not harm you. But he is your enemy too, Sousuke-sama. Just as you are his. He has shown you his true colours…can you truly trust him not to share his thoughts with others?**_

Sousuke's eyes widened a little as he contemplated this.

What had Junsuke said? That he had been born under an unlucky sign? That their family was haunted by a legend…and so many other things? He had _not _killed the maids – of that he was certain. But what if Junsuke said that he had? He frowned, shaking his head slightly as if to clear it. He was not even holding his weapon – if he picked it up now, even if he did…

Junsuke had all but stopped now, and Sousuke's eyes became slits as he contemplated what to do.

Picking up the blade was one option, but to fight his brother to the death was not what he wanted nor something he believed he could do. Junsuke was frightened, but he was still stronger, and Sousuke's underdeveloped body would probably take some beating, if not see him defeated altogether. And besides, although he was only eleven years old, Sousuke knew that even if he won the fight, he would never erase the taint of his brother's death - the blood would stain his fingers for always. Junsuke believed him dangerous, but his parents did not. And Sousuke did not want that to change.

So he did not reach for his sword.

Instead he just sat quietly, closing his eyes as he waited to see what his brother would do. He did not need to look at his companion to sense his movement, for Junsuke's perspiring, anxious reiatsu was all around him, pinpointing exactly where he was at every moment. Now the older boy was moving forward once more, and again, and a third step. Junsuke was standing right at Sousuke's side now, and as he felt the sweep of air against his skin, he knew that his brother had lifted his blade.

But his hand was still shaking, and Sousuke knew that he had lost all resolve to kill.

Slowly he opened his eyes, gazing up at Junsuke in calm, impassive silence. Junsuke stared back, his weapon raised half way above his brother's body, yet he made no move to strike.

"Do you really think you will kill me?" Sousuke broke the silence finally, a faint smile touching his lips. "You're being foolish. Put the sword down. Stand back. If Father saw you now, he'd send you away. You'd be tainted forever...never forgiven...for attacking me when I sit so helpless here on the ground."

Junsuke did not move, but Sousuke saw colour drain from his features, and his smile widened.

"Then I'll get up instead." He suggested, getting carefully to his feet. Junsuke stepped back quickly, as though he expected Sousuke to launch some kind of attack on him, but instead the younger boy let out a heavy sigh.

"I don't like fighting with you like this." He murmured regretfully. "It makes my head hurt. We shouldn't do it, aniue."

"You..." Junsuke was recovering himself now, and his grip tightened on the sword. "Do you think I'm fooled now? I'm not fooled. I saw it then - right down to the core of your being and there was nothing there. You smile but you don't feel that smile. You are a monster - and I'll prove it. I'll prove it to Mother and Father and then they'll..."

"That would be sad." Sousuke frowned, reaching out to rest his hand on Junsuke's shoulder. The other boy was a good half head taller, yet somehow it was Sousuke's gesture that seemed patronising, and as his eyes met Junsuke's, it was almost as though a bolt of energy had flickered between them. Junsuke started as if bitten, swiping Sousuke's hand away from his body, and it was in this moment that the younger brother realised that his fingers were glittering with strange light. For a moment he stared at it, fascinated, and then he stretched out his hand once more, brushing it this time against Junsuke's bare hand.

"Keep your demon magic away from me!" Junsuke exclaimed, tripping over his own feet and falling to the ground as he gazed up at his brother in alarm. "Keep it away from me! Keep...keep away!"

"I don't have any demon magic. I'm not a demon." Sousuke shook his head, lowering his hand.

"Then what was that?"

"That?" Sousuke was surprised, glancing at his fingers, then shrugging.

"A reflection." He murmured. "Of the pool that became the water moon."

He closed his eyes, feeling the surge of unfamiliar energy unfurling within him once more, pulsing out through his body. He did not know where it came from, or what had called it, but in that moment he felt stronger than he had ever felt before. In that moment, he felt he could beat his brother - at swords, or even with his bare hands. In that moment...

An gasping, gurgling spund made him open his eyes to see his brother writhing on the ground, his hands clawing at his throat as though he was struggling to breath. In fascination, Sousuke watched as Junsuke's face turned first red, then purple, and finally blue, his eyes bulging almost out of his head as he fought against some unknown force. Sousuke did not understand what was happening, yet he felt no revulsion in the scene that was playing out before him.

His brother had been a demon, after all. He had known it, deep down. His brother had been a demon...and as the desperate fingers became limp and lax against Junsuke's throat, Sousuke stepped forward, pausing to gaze down at the scratch marks that the boy's nails had left deep against the skin during his final throes.

His brother was dead, just as Keiko and Ameki had been. But this time, he had seen it happen. And this time...

_  
This time, it was me._

Sousuke knew that this thought should bring him distress, but instead he felt pride and satisfaction swirl up within his heart.

_Somehow, someway - I don't know how. But this was me. The strength the mirror talked about...the strength to fight those who want to bring me down. Junsuke-nii was one of those demons. I found him. And I stopped him. _

"Sousuke! Junsuke!"

His father's voice made him glance up, seeing the head of the household hurrying across the cobbles, dismay in his brown eyes as he took stock of the scene before him.

"Sousuke...what in hell's name happened? What..._Junsuke_! Junsuke, say something..._say somethin_g!"

He dropped at the fallen boy's side, feeling vainly for a pulse, but Sousuke shook his head.

"Aniue is dead, Father." He said quietly, moving to pick up his discarded sword that lay a short distance away. "He couldn't breathe, and then he died. And I've finished my practice for today...so I'll put away my sword and go change my clothes. I'll be in the schoolroom if you want me."

"Wait a minute! Stop right there!" His father raised disbelieving eyes to his younger son, who offered him a faint smile.

"Yes?"

"Did you...what happened to Junsuke? Sousuke, are you...in shock? Your brother lies dead, and..."

"No. I'm not in shock." Sousuke shook his head. "He had to stop. So he stopped."

He turned on his heel, taking a few steps towards the building, but two heavy hands dropped down on his shoulders and he glanced up, seeing his father right behind him, tears glittering in his brown eyes.

"Did you..._kill _your brother?" The older man whispered, and Sousuke pursed his lips.

"How could I do that?" He asked reasonably. "My sword was over there, and I was simply standing and talking to him. He fell down and stopped breathing. That's all."

"But you didn't help him."

"I suppose not."

"Why not?"

"Because he was already dead." Sousuke said simply. "I couldn't have saved him. He didn't trust me. He told me to keep away from him. So I did. And he died."

He tilted his head, eying his father curiously.

"Aniue hated me." He added. "He wouldn't have let me help him, even if I tried. He came here to kill me - pointed his sword at me. Then he fell down. I didn't touch him. And now I'm going inside. I need to put my sword away."

His father stared at him as if not quite believing his son's words, but Sousuke felt the grip loosen and he took advantage of it, slipping free and making his way briskly towards the manor. He knew that his Father was staring after him, his eyes boring into the back of Sousuke's training robes, but in that moment, the boy did not care. In that moment, he knew that he held power.

And that not all demons were monsters in beast form.

Some were human and some were right around him. Demons who would stop him - demons who would try and keep him back. Demons who, like Junsuke, might try to kill him.

As he reached the building, Sousuke paused, resting his hand against the door and remembering the castle from his dream.

But he would get stronger. Now he knew it more than he ever had before. He would get stronger. And then nobody would be able to stop him.


	4. Fourth Prophesy

_**The heart severs from its body as the demon devours more of its will. The darkness now envelops him. There is no escape back to the light. The only path that opens is one that leads to blood.**__  
~The Black Prophesy_

A year had passed.

Sousuke stretched out on the grass beneath the blooming cherry trees, a look of contentment on his face as he slipped his fingers behind his head, gazing up through the mottled pink and green of the branches to the pale blue sky above. It was a peaceful day, with only the slightest of spring breezes, and only the occasional birdsong broke through the trees, proving that he was not quite isolated in his restful location.

It had been almost a full year since the death of his brother, Junsuke.

Immediately following the tragedy, there had been confusion on all sides. Accusations had been made, and Sousuke's parents had demanded time and time again to know what had happened to their eldest son. Yet Sousuke had stuck to his story – that he had not touched his older brother, and that Junsuke had simply stopped being able to breathe. They had been wary and suspicious, even frightened by his calmness – but a day later, when the family's physician had arrived to examine the body, he had reported that the fifteen year old had apparently died of a sudden heart spasm. Rapid palpitations had led to his loss of breath, and the bright red colour of his face as he had slowly suffocated on the ground. It was entirely possible, the doctor had said, that Junsuke had been born with such a heart defect and that too much strenuous physical exercise had brought things to this extent. There would have been nothing to be done, he had added. Sousuke would not have been able to save him. Nobody would have.

Junsuke's death had been a natural, terrible tragedy. And that was that.

The doctor had also examined Sousuke following the incident, on the firm request of the boys' confused and grieving father. Sousuke had allowed this, obeying meekly every command that the physician had given him and answering every question clearly and as fully as he was able to do. No, he had not done anything to startle his brother. No, he had not even been holding his sword when the older boy collapsed, though indeed they had sparred a little some minutes before. No, he had not sent for help…he had seen death before, and had known that there would be no saving his brother's life. Junsuke had told him quite clearly to not come near him, so Sousuke had obeyed. And, quite clearly, he had stated the truth several times. Junsuke had intended to kill him and had wielded his sword towards Sousuke's throat.

Though Sousuke's parents had found that hard to believe, one of the groundsmen had passed nearby on some errand when the interchange had taken place, and he had agreed with Sousuke's account. Indeed, he had seen the younger boy relinquish his sword first, and Sousuke had been sitting on the ground when he had seen them, while the older brother had raised his weapon. He had assumed that they were playing some game or that Junsuke was teaching Sousuke some move – but on reflection, he had acknowledged that from a certain angle the gesture may have been an intimidating one. The physician had also examined the younger boy's body at the same time, finding several fading bruises around the boy's arms and across his back.

Putting all the evidence together, he had concluded that Sousuke had been the victim of persistent bullying from his older brother, and, because of this, he had been too afraid to help the older boy when he had collapsed. Sousuke's blank reaction, the doctor decided, had been due to a mixture of shock, relief and then guilt overwhelming his young senses at such an unexpected, violent scene. To be threatened with death and then to watch the one who threatened fall and die…for a boy of just eleven, the physician was sure this must have seemed like some deadly act of divine retribution. Any child would be afraid. Any child would not understand. Sousuke was not to be punished for his confused emotions – more than anyone, he had been in the greatest danger.

As he remembered this, Sousuke's smile widened slightly. He did not know how he had achieved it. But he knew that he had been responsible for Junsuke's death and knowing that gave him satisfaction, even now. Even more satisfying, however, was the fact that he had been so completely exonerated from blame by the examinations of the doctor. It was possible, he had learnt, to deceive people by telling them the truth. That truth was also a weapon, if used correctly…until Junsuke's death, he had never really realised how effective it could be.

His parents were still a little wary of him. Though they no longer blamed him for Junsuke's death, they had distanced themselves slightly from him since the older boy's funeral. Neither one had said anything to him directly, but he knew that they believed the incident had disturbed him – that the lack of emotional reaction to such a horrible event had been the first sign in a weakening of his mental state. The doctor had agreed with them to a certain degree, for he had warned them that Sousuke's true emotions about his brother's death may surface far later as his brain struggled to cope with all it had seen. Sousuke was probably suffering from post traumatic stress, or suppressed grief, or any one of several emotional conditions that could be brought on by watching his only brother slowly suffocate before him. But Sousuke knew he didn't have any of those conditions. He just didn't care that Junsuke was dead, and that was as far as it went.

Still, so long as his parents believed he was suffering from some kind of mental injury, Sousuke had found his life to be someway freer than it had been before. They had wanted to believe it, he reflected, because he was their son and they loved him, and loving him meant they wanted to believe in him instead of looking deeper to find the hidden truth. Love too was a weapon – for it was love that paved the way to leniency, and this too he absorbed with his keen, clinical mind. Junsuke's death had not only removed the annoying older boy from the scene, it had also had other benefits on his lifestyle. He no longer had to attend studies if he said that he was tired, and his tutors did not argue with him when he decided to go walk in the fresh air instead of sitting down to read this or that old text. He had long since read and memorised almost every book in the family library, so on a day like today, when the weather was good, it was far more pleasant just to take off by himself and enjoy the scenery instead.

There was not enough that they could teach him, now, to hold his interest and occupy his mind. He had not shown them how much he had learnt, for though they knew he was bright, they did not know that he had already memorised all of the kanji in regular daily use plus a thousand more by the time his older brother had met his unfortunate end. He knew the history of Seireitei well enough that he could even note the page and volume of whichever tome held the information. He knew his family's heraldry – that they had allegedly past connections to the ancient great Clans who, though no longer great, had forged their path into the society they now lived. Yet there were gaps in that pathway, and those gaps confused him. He had always learnt that he had ancient Clan heritage, but he had found it impossible to prove how or why that was the case. On the contrary, it was as though their family had begun from nothing, with no real explanation of who or how they had come to be. One day, for some reason, an Aizen family had come into existence. But Sousuke did not know who had first held that name, or what its significance was. He did not even know how they had risen from apparent obscurity to the middle level of Seireitei noble society. He only knew that they had not been there and then, all of a sudden, they had.

Sousuke didn't like things that he didn't know, but no matter how hard he looked, he could not find the answer to his questions. He had asked his father, once, but the other man – now starting to show the first signs of aging after having buried one son and drifted from the other – had claimed not to know either, and after careful consideration, Sousuke had believed him. The source of the Aizen family was wrapped in mystery…yet even so, he wanted to know more about it.

The dream castle and the mirror that it housed had been passed down through generations of his family, waiting for one who could reach out and break the seals to enter. Sousuke had never forgotten that fact. Yet he did not understand it either. How this mirror had come to be, who had built this castle – and whether that world had always been a dream world, or whether it had some root in reality.

He pulled himself to his feet, turning and heading slowly back down the hill.

If the answers weren't to be found here, then common sense dictated that they must be found somewhere else. He would simply have to be patient – and try to find out through whatever means he could.

A strange carriage was drawn up outside the house when he reached it, and he paused for a moment, stopping to take in the insignia painted on the side. It was a little chipped and paint was flecking away from the main design, yet it was clearly meant to stand out, for it was vividly coloured and spread at least halfway across the contraption from left to right. It was an unfamiliar motif to the young boy, but he was struck by it all the same, for in the centre, flanked by two crossed swords and backed by the amber swirl of flames was a bird, its head drawn back and its beak open as though about to send out a screech of defiance to all who gazed upon it. Its wings were spread for flight, or perhaps, Sousuke thought, for a show of intimidation, for the feathers that covered the fine bird's neck were ruffled and risen, a sure sign that a fight was about to ensue. He stared at the picture for a moment, taking in its features and as he did so, he thought he saw the faintest glittering of light dart across the bird's eyes. He frowned, pursing his lips as he moved cautiously closer.

Was this another hiding place, then? Like the tapestry that had come to life, would this beast also fly from this place and do battle with him here in the middle of his own family estate? His fingers drifted to his waist, but he was unarmed, for he had not studied with a sword since Junsuke's death and had been forbidden from leaving the manor with any kind of weaponry about his body. Yet he had not needed a weapon to kill his brother, and nor had he used one to destroy the tapestry bird when he had faced it in the castle of the Water Moon. Sousuke decided he did not need to be afraid. Instead he reached up his hands, touching his fingers gently to the bird's throat.

"I won't be fooled by you." He said softly, his eyes fixed on the gleaming orbs that stared back at him defiantly from their two-dimensional wooden frame. "You can't deceive me. I can see through you, and if you attack me, you will die."

The bird did not respond, and Sousuke watched it for a few more minutes, but it showed no sign of moving, and he stepped back. Either it had heeded his warning and backed down, or he had been mistaken and this image was not the hiding place of a hunting beast after all. It was hard to tell the difference, sometimes – not now he knew they could take on any form around him.

He cast the creature one last look, then turned away, pushing open the door of his home and stepping into the hallway. For once it was deserted, with no servants around to greet him and he frowned, moving cautiously along the corridor as he wondered why that might be. In the year since Junsuke's death, there had always been someone at the door – someone to watch when he left, and someone to note his return. Yet today there was nobody, and Sousuke wondered if it had something to do with the carriage that had been drawn up outside.

As he moved deeper into the house, he heard the sound of voices – at first nothing more than a low murmur but as he drew closer he found he could make them out – his mother, his father, and a stranger – a man with a sharp, brusque tone to his voice and enough bearing in his words for Sousuke to realise that he was of the same social class. It was unusual for the Aizen family to have visitors of any kind, especially ones who were not close family, so Sousuke paused at the door, glancing around to make sure nobody was there to observe him before secluding himself carefully behind one of the heavy curtains that covered the hallway's bay window. He was close enough in this little alcove to be able to hear everything that went on in the day parlour, but they would not be able to see him, and he relaxed back against the glass, turning his focus to the gathering in the room beyond.

"We're grateful to you for coming." That was his father. "Because, quite truthfully, we don't know what we should do."

"I can see why you don't." This time the stranger. "And why you asked me rather than go straight to the heart of Seireitei. But you know, you won't keep this a secret forever. They find out about things. It'll be the shame of your family – or the curse of it, once it does."

"That's what we're afraid of." His mother sounded as though she had been crying, and despite himself, Sousuke's heart clenched slightly inside his chest at the sound. Even now, he did not like it when his mother spoke that way. Even now he could not fully detach himself from it – the bond of the mother and son was not something so easily discarded. "There have always been stories…legends…but then, when Junsuke died…"

She trailed off, and there was a short pause, followed by,

"Do you think the young one killed his brother?"

Sousuke tensed, realising in that instant that they were talking about him. Panic and paranoia surged through him as he began to wonder once again who this stranger was, why he was here, what did he want…did he know? Could he know? Could he be a demon too – one of those put in place to hold Sousuke back and damage him?

"No." His father's voice calmed some of the flaring tension in his heart. "No, Junsuke was examined thoroughly by a very high level physician and it was a tragedy, but a natural one caused by weak heart valves. But…it's the effect it's had…since then, Sousuke has…definitely changed."

Sousuke let out his breath in a rush, trying to calm his racing heart, for it was beating so loudly he felt sure they would hear it and discover his hiding place.

"In what way, changed?" The stranger questioned. "You called me under cryptic circumstances – but you'll have to be more specific. My ties to that place are underground and undercover…officially I don't have any real links with it, but because, well, you could say because of my family's connections…I know a little more about it than most. But I warn you, it's not something to be taken lightly. Your young son…you'll have to be more explicit. I need to know…what kind of a boy he is, before I tell you what I think of it."

He snorted.

"_Many_ young boys are odd at this age." He added darkly. "And most of them improve for beating some good sense into them."

"Sousuke has never been beaten!" His mother was outraged, and the stranger chuckled coldly.

"Perhaps that's your problem, then." He said cruelly. "There aren't many faults in children that can't be cured by a good system of discipline. But that's by the way – you wanted me to advise you. You're pulling on very distant, very thin family threads here to gain my guidance. Your connections to my bloodline are somewhat scant and largely unproven – unless, of course, you believe the old stories…"

He paused, as if his words carried some greater meaning, and then continued in a more even tone.

"But I will not ignore the call for help of a social equal whose roots come from the same source as my own. So at least…give me some idea of what we're dealing with."

"Sousuke was born with spirit power." His father spoke slowly and carefully, and Sousuke got the distinct impression that the other man was relating something that caused him deep pain to admit. "And in our family, that's always been considered a bad thing. I don't know exactly why – its something that goes deep into our family's history and it's something that hasn't ever been discussed with me in real detail. Only I know that in the past, generations of Aizen children have had their spirit power sealed at birth. However…"

"However, such a practice has essentially died out in Seireitei." The stranger reflected pensively. "It's no longer so easy to acquire the attentions of someone to do a discreet sealing job on a newborn baby without bringing all of Central Forty Six and the Gotei down on your head over it – I know. The shinigami are taking over this world – no, truth is, they already have taken over most of it. Gone are the Clans and the pedigrees and the history connecting most of our families to true greatness. Now it's all about the spirit in the sword and fighting forces in places we have no reason to go. Still, given that that's the case, there's probably no shame in your younger boy – Shunsuke, did you say? – having a little of that stirring inside of him. It's a sign of good blood, you know, to have pure spirit power of a natural level from the moment of birth. My own son has it too, so his sword tutors tell me – I see no shame in him emulating his ancestors, and perhaps you should feel the same. There are things to be done with spiritually gifted children. Training. Education. It doesn't have to be seen as a negative, not even if your family are unused to such an idea."

"His name is Sousuke." His mother corrected. "And we know that it's not a shameful thing. It's just…not happened in our family for a very long time. And we…we didn't want to hurt him."

"The traditions of our family associate terrible disaster with the awakening of a child's spirit power." His father said softly. "The death of two servants when he was five, now the death of his brother when he was eleven – the last thing we want is for Sousuke to grow up believing these things are his fault. He doesn't know…about the stories that I was told as a boy, and that my father was told when he was one. Neither of us had spirit power to speak of – neither of us saw it as anything other than a fairy tale. But for Sousuke, the line between fairy tale and reality has always been a little blurred. He has an active imagination, and now…I think he's regressed even more into fantasy to cope with the things that he's seen. Were he to know that he possessed spirit power and that that fact might be cursing him…"

"We care about him a good deal." His mother took up the tale once more, and Sousuke found himself listening ever more intently, absorbing every word spoken and committing it to memory. "He was always a bright and sunshiny child…but when Junsuke died, we learnt that he'd been bullying his little brother quite badly. Sousuke was too frightened of retribution to help him when he died – and too traumatised by the whole event to ever really react to it properly. It was like he couldn't grasp the full meaning of it – even now, he doesn't seem to have grasped it. The doctor has told us that he's suffering from emotional trauma and that it can still take time – he had that bad experience as a young boy, too, and probably those events are mounting together in his head now."

"And if the traditions of your family were to be right?" The stranger pressed. "That this child of yours, despite your best efforts, was a bringer of ill fortune to those around him? What then for your family and your standing in society? You've already lost your son and heir – and now your whole family rests on the shoulders of a boy who by your own admission may endanger everyone by even living."

Bad luck?

Sousuke's eyes widened.

Was he bad luck? It had been good luck that had helped him enter the castle, and good luck that had defeated the demon barring the way to the mirror. It had been good luck that Junsuke had been afraid of him, and good luck that Junsuke had died. But what was the difference, anyhow? Was one person's good luck someone else's bad? He considered this for a moment, trying to figure it out for himself. If this 'spirit power' was what had caused these things to happen, how could his parents see it as anything but good luck?

"Sousuke is our son and we intend to stick by him. We don't believe he did anything wrong." His mother was speaking again. "But we also realise…we've been told that unstable emotions can lead to…problems with spiritually gifted children, can't they? And…for Sousuke's sake…we want to do the best we can. For our son's sake…we want to help him back on the right track. That's why…when we learnt that you had connections with…"

"How you learnt that information, I'm unsure. And I'd thank you not to repeat it." The stranger said sharply, as though her words had struck a nerve. "It's true that such a place exists, and that in times gone by members of my family were...shall we say...involved with it and knew its times and places of operation, and they did not always relate so closely to the Gotei. But now it belongs entirely to shinigami and not so much to the residual Clans at all. Nominally, the Shihouin still oversee it – but the true authority belongs to Central Forty Six, and there is no overruling them. It is meant to be kept a secret – but it is known of, by a few. Still, if it was to spread that it was known of…"

"We have no intention of discussing this outside of this room." Sousuke's father said gravely. "All we wanted to know is…if these people are truly expert in helping those with disturbed spiritual psyche, whether…for Sousuke, such a place might be of use."

Those who enter this place rarely, if ever come out again." The stranger said grimly. "Many die in insanity, some are confined indefinitely in this place, free to roam it yet never allowed to see the light. More, those who are sent there are adjudged to be of danger to the almighty Gotei in some way. To send your son - a child who is as yet unknown to them in any respect - to such a place…if they even accepted it, is that what you really want?"

Sousuke's heart stilled in his chest, until he heard his father's reply.

"No. We don't want it." He said slowly. "We love our son. You have a son, so you must understand that feeling. We don't _want _to send him away. We simply…wanted advice."

"If you want my advice, then beat him." The stranger seemed to have finished his part of the conversation, for Sousuke could hear him getting to his feet. "It's the method I've chosen for my own son, whose behaviour is far from suitable at times to fill the shoes of the Clansfolk he claims descent from. Your child is soft because you spoil him – he needs to learn the difference between reality and fantasy, and the best way to do that is through pain. If you feel he is a danger, confine him. He can't bring you shame if he's locked in his room, nor can he bring you misfortune if he's not free to roam as he pleases.

"Your son's spirit power sounds negligible at best. A weak, soft boy who could not bear to see his brother die in front of him and so pretended to himself that it didn't happen at all. Had he done something of note – had he killed those servants, had he slain his brother – then he might merit further attention. If you're truly concerned for his well being, the best thing you could do is keep an eye on him. Because if it is true – that spirit power in your family _is_ a cursed thing – well, you might need to swallow your parental sensitivities and send him away anyway. The Maggots' Nest is not a friendly environment, but it is a secure one. And you might be assured that there…he would never hurt anybody, no matter how out of hand his spirit power became."

"For now, sending Sousuke away isn't an option." Sousuke's father spoke strongly. "But we will not forget all the things you've said nor the advice which you have given. It isn't our practice to discipline our son through force – we have never done this and to start now would likely only increase any feelings he has of hopelessness inside of him. But we will still keep it well in mind, Ootoribashi-dono, and we appreciate your goodwill in speaking to us on something that's such a secret and protected subject. Even if our ties of kinship are weak ones, we thank you for honouring them all the same."

"Men of honour never forget their blood." Now Sousuke could see him, the faint outline of a thin-faced individual cast in the light of the parlour window as he made to leave. "But honour should always come before blood. Remember that too, Aizen-dono. If your son is simply weak and emotional, then he will doubtless be pulled out of it in time. But if your stories of misfortune are true…then you must harden your heart and do what _other_ families in the past have been forced to do to preserve their family name. Aizen in history are not strangers to killing – whether you are aware of the details of that past or not. Legends and traditions are written for a reason…to be heeded. If your son turns out to be ill luck, even if through no fault of his own – you _must_ discard him. Whether to the Maggots' Nest or to Hades – if that time comes, you must not be frightened to act."

With that he was gone, footsteps leading out along the hallway and Sousuke held his breath as he heard the stranger – no, his name had been _Ootoribashi_, a name Aizen would not forget because of the great bird that had been garishly painted on the side of the visiting carriage – making his departure. The front door opened, letting a cool breeze blow sharply into the building, and then shut, and a few moments later Sousuke heard the visitor talking to his attendant who had clearly returned from whatever errand he had been despatched on when Sousuke had returned home.

"Discard him? Even if it is not his fault?" Sousuke could hear his mother now, and there was a heavy, grief-stricken note in her voice as she spoke. "Could we ever do such a thing…bury one son and discard the other, just like that?"

"We are not going to discard Sousuke. He is our son, and we made the decision when he was born that we would keep him and raise him in ignorance of his spirit power." His father responded, his own words heavy, yet Sousuke could hear the faint doubt in his words. "But Ootoribashi-dono's words are words we must keep in mind. Perhaps…we should exercise more control over him, just to see what he does and where he goes. Also…the doctor did offer us…medicine to keep any errant symptoms in check. Perhaps…that's also something that we should pursue."

"I don't want to medicate him. Not when it might just make things worse."

"I know. I just said that it's something we should consider looking into - just in case. If not for now...then...if you really want to keep him with us...it's something we shouldn't ignore."

Sousuke's heart stilled once more in his chest as he read the doubt and uncertainty in his parents' words.

As the carriage rattled away down the cobbled driveway, the boy's eyes narrowed.

So demons could come from outside and could cast doubt around him, too. Very well. This too he would remember…and he too would watch, wait and learn. He could fool his parents – they loved him, and therefore they would want to be fooled. But he would work as hard as he could to fool other people. Then, the next time a demon struck at him – _he would be ready_.


	5. Fifth Prophesy

_**Touching the past will taint the present, as the irrevocable bonds of history tie together the fates of those dead and those who will bring death. The secrets of the past cannot be washed away even by tears of grief – the future will come to know them, unlocking the door to despair.**_

_~The Black Prophesy._

The demons seemed to be sleeping this time.

It had been almost six months since the visit of the stranger to the Aizen home, and despite all Sousuke had overheard, nothing had immediately happened. In fact, on the contrary, he knew that his parents had talked several more times – but neither one of them had wanted to take extreme action against what was now their only surviving son.

He had been extremely careful during those months, tiptoing around their sensitivities so as not to further exacerbate their suspicions about his behaviour or his lack of fraternal grief. Little by little he was realising that he was not the same as them – and that they loved him, but that their love could not be further from understanding who or what he really was.

Each month, Sousuke had seen his mother take flowers to the mausoleum to place against Junsuke's tomb, and each month he had seen her leave the white marble structure, her eyes red with tears. Each month without fail she made the same pilgrimage – yet to Sousuke, Junsuke was dead and no amount of flowers, crying or ritual would change that. It would have been better to forget him completely – but for some reason, neither Sousuke's mother nor his father seemed able or ready to do that. Instead they spoke of him constantly – reminded each other of their grief in what seemed a never ending cycle of sadness and reminiscence that tried Sousuke's patience and stretched his nerves to the extremes.

But he had learnt that it was safest to work with them – illogical and foolish though their actions might be - than to try to fight against them.

Therefore that morning he had asked his mother if he might be allowed to go with her – to stand at Junsuke's tomb and to pass his respects to his dead brother's remains. His mother had been surprised, but also pleased and she had agreed, making a great fuss over him as though he had suddenly announced he was to marry a great princess and become King of all Soul Society.

Solemnly and silently he had entered the mausoleum, bowing his head automatically to the tombs of the older Aizen clansfolk that had come before him. He had obeyed his mother's every command, and had lowered his head to his brother, though his eyes had remained dry as he placed his hands together over the incense that she lit. The atmosphere had been heavy and thick and the smoke had made his eyes sting – but even so, he had not shed tears for Junsuke's passing. He was not sure he was able to shed tears – certainly he had not done so since the night he had dreamed about the castle and the mirror, and perhaps he never would do again. But his mother had seemed pleased that he had wanted to go – and he had felt the first, tiny thaw in their relationship – that perhaps she would reach out to him again like she had done before.

Sousuke did not really understand the connections that people formed with one another in the world around him. But even though he did not understand them, he knew that he had one to his mother. Though it was entirely instinctive and out of his control, she had given birth to him. And for that reason, when she had reached out her hand and taken his in her delicate fingers, he had felt a surge of warmth that he had not felt since Junsuke's death. Perhaps the immediate danger had then passed – perhaps they would move on and forget the older boy's death after all.

Sousuke's mother had asked him to give her time alone to pray, and Sousuke had agreed, soberly retreating into the deeper vaults of the mausoleum to give his companion her time alone with the remains of his brother. He had come when Junsuke had been interred, but he had not been further inside the vault since his grandmother's death, and as he walked, he realised that even further along there was an older section half-blocked off by the coffins and memorials of later members of the Aizen clan. No, it was more than that – in the shadows there was a stairway, steep and forbidding as they spiralled down into the unknown.

Curiosity had always been one of Sousuke's chief failings, and curiosity drove him forward to investigate, just as he had done so many years before in the world that had only existed in his dreams. He followed the winding steps down into the earth below, being careful where to put his feet as age and disrepair had caused many of the surfaces to become slippy and those wooden supports that had been crafted there had long since rotted and decayed.

As the bottom was a door, and as he reached that door, he realised that he had seen it before – or one very like it. It was almost exactly the same as the one he had encountered in his dream world – the door that had parted the trees and led him to the castle, with the brass plate denoting the kanji for water and moon.

This one also held a plaque, but instead of two random characters, this one was patterned with what looked like a name. It was faint and hard to make out, for the style of writing was a form of script that was no longer in regular use in daily Seireitei life, but Sousuke's knowledge of most things was far beyond most children his age, and by running his fingers over the aging plaque, he found that he was able to make out what was written there. His heart stilled in his chest with excitement as he registered that this was a tomb – that beyond this door was a memorial to someone who had been part of his family – someone who had died long ago, and whose memorial lay here, even though his body would have long since dissipated into the atmosphere of Seireitei.

More than the name, though, the characters beneath that name gave him fresh cause for both excitement and curiosity. They had been almost battered out – though it didn't seem to Sousuke as though it had been done out of any disrespect. The rest of the door and the occupant's name was fully intact, yet someone had gone to great trouble to remove whatever had been written below. And because someone had tried to remove the characters, Sousuke badly wanted to know what they said. Try as he might, though, he could not read it – all he could do was guess that the first character might have been a five…but nothing more revealed itself no matter how hard he tried.

He put his hands against the door, pushing it gently and then with more force as he tried to open it. There was no sign of a keyhole or any form of bolt or fastening to hold the divide shut, yet it was stiff and heavy, and it took several more attempts for him to be able to push it back even a very few inches.

The room beyond was dark and musty and as the stale air that had been trapped there for generations slowly began to seep out around him, Sousuke felt a strange feeling of connection to this place. He had smelt that smell before – in his dream, in the castle, in the place that had made no sense yet made complete sense. A few more pushes and the door gave way enough to allow him to slip inside the burial vault completely – more than ever now he wanted to know who this ancestor was.

The name on the door had been four simple characters, spelling out the name _Aizen Kohaku_. From the age of the script, Sousuke felt certain that this person had been dead at least a millenium and maybe more – maybe even to as far back as the Aizen family's recorded history went. Was this person, then, his family's founder? If so, why had he been marked away here, alone and in darkness? If he had founded the family, he must have had a wife. Children. People to pass on the line. Sousuke had read of other families which venerated their former heads and even thought of them as somewhat close to Gods – but his family had hidden this man away, concealed his secrets and left him in blackness.

Why?

Carefully he felt his way around the chamber, blinking several times as he tried to get used to the dim light. The crack left by the open doorway allowed light from the mausoleum's lamps to filter in, providing the barest of outlines for him to work with, but not much more than that. He could see that there was a stone statue of some kind – perhaps the monument itself – over towards the far wall, and as he felt his way towards it, he could smell the very faint scent of incense – a scent burnt many hundreds of years earlier, perhaps – the last time anyone came to mourn this man's passing.

Yet who _was_ he?

Sousuke's clever fingers ran themselves over the statue, trying to build an image of what it looked like in his mind's eye. It was not the statue of an old man, yet from the smooth cut of the stone, Sousuke knew that it had been expensive to carve and therefore whoever it had been created to honour had not died quickly or without making some impression on the world around him. On the contrary, Sousuke had the distinct impression the opposite was true. Whoever this person was, he was someone important. And someone to whom Sousuke had a direct connection that even he could not explain.

As his hand brushed the fingers of the statue, he felt the material against his skin change from smooth marble to crafted metal, and he realised that the figure was holding a blade. So he had been a soldier, then? A fighter? What had that Ootoribashi man said – that Aizen in the past had not been afraid of killing? Perhaps this was why. Perhaps this man – this stranger – had been the one who had gained them that reputation. Had he killed his way to power and influence? Something stirred inside of Sousuke at this thought. His peaceful yet boring life suddenly seemed even less appealing, and he longed for the briefest of moments to have been born in an era where such things were possible.

A world in which you could prove you were alive by surrounding yourself with death.

In the moment Junsuke had expired, Sousuke had felt the most tangible proof that he existed – that his world was a real world and that his actions were real. But it had soon faded, and his doubts had come flooding back. Yet this man – although only a statue, seemed painfully real. His sword, the cold, hard touch of the marble stone…the stale atmopshere that held such faint hints of past life – yes, this man seemed more real to Sousuke than anyone he had ever met.

As though drawing on these thoughts, as Sousuke touched the statue's sword, it began to glow with an odd blue light, the chamber suddenly illuminated where moments earlier it had been pure darkness. In that instant, Sousuke saw the jet and marble statue clearly for the first time and he gasped, his eyes opening wide as he registered the cut of the man's attire. He was not robed in the clothing of rich men – not of nobility past nor present – but in something else, in the black and white that Sousuke had only heard stories about. The colours of the shinigami – the spiritual warriors that guarded Soul Society. And not only that. Hesitantly Sousuke inched forward, reaching across to touch the carved white that fluttered out behind his body, almost but not quite creating the illusion of fabric in the wind.

Sousuke had never seen a shinigami Captain. But even so, he knew just from looking at it that this was a Captain's _haori_, and that this man – this Aizen Kohaku – had once been a shinigami of the highest serving rank.

This man who was his ancestor, in a family for whom the idea of shinigami was cursed and suppressed. A man with spirit power in a family where spirit power was considered ill fortune. Was this why his memorial had been confined?

The blade was still glowing, and as Sousuke looked at it more closely he realised that embedded in the metal were tiny stones that had reacted to his touch. He stared at them, fascinated by the way in which they glittered without any kind of perceivable power source. Had he woken them simply by touching them? What had powered them? Was this some shinigami secret too…something that they knew of but that his family disdained on account of their odd and inexplicable superstitions?

_**Kidou lamps.**_

The mirror voice echoed suddenly in his head, making him jump.

_**Those with spirit power can awaken them. Your family disdain it, therefore they do not use them. But since ancient times, they have been used. In a time when it wasn't a disgrace for an Aizen to be a shinigami.**_

"Who was he?" Sousuke whispered, but there was no answer, and the fleeting presence he had thought he'd felt there was once more gone. He frowned, pursing his lips as he walked slowly all around the statue. As he did so, he caught sight of something carved across the man's back and he paused, absorbing what it meant.

The character for five – just as he'd thought he'd seen on the door outside. Was that it, then? This man had been a Captain – the Fifth Captain – of one of the shinigami brigades. And because his family did not like shinigami, they had tried to conceal it – they had shut this door and walked away from their ancestor, because they had not wanted to acknowledge what he was.

Sousuke stared up at the statue, surprised to find that he could recognise features in both his father and himself in the man's face.

He had died centuries before, yet even so, there was no doubt. This man was an Aizen, with the same blood in his veins as Sousuke had in his.

The young boy's eyes flitted to the wall of the chamber, and he let out an involuntary gasp as he made out for the first time the faded and chipped paintings that adorned the walls. Dragons, serpents and other beasts which he could not name writhed and mingled on the walls, intertwining tails and wings as they stared down at him. Again he was reminded of the castle – and as he moved to touch the wall, he felt a sudden sense of certainty that these creatures had been created by the man whose statue had been confined here.

_Aizen Kohaku._

He murmured the name to himself once again.

_Aizen Kohaku. Shinigami Captain. My ancestor. Yet I've not heard that name before. Just that the family appeared and that was that. And before him – what then? Were there others? Are there older tombs? Is there more?_

"Sousuke-kun?"

The voice of his mother made him start, stepping away from the wall suddenly as he realised he had become too engrossed in his exploration. He had forgotten all about her and their visit to see his brother – and now she had come looking for him, worried by his lengthy time away from her side.

"Sousuke…"

It was too late to hide or return the vault to how it had been, for the woman was already at the door, her eyes big and troubled as her gaze flitted from him to the statue he had unearthed. As she saw it, her eyes became big with alarm and dismay, and she bit her lip, darting forward to grasp him around the wrist.

"You shouldn't have come down here." She whispered. "This vault is forbidden – it's said to be cursed. You shouldn't…Sousuke…"

She gazed at the sword, fresh horror in her expression as she interpreted the source of its light.

"Kidou lamps?" She whispered, then, "Sousuke, did you…?"

"I touched it by accident and it suddenly got bright." Sousuke decided it was better to play dumb. "I'm sorry, mother. I didn't realise that this was a bad place to come. I was wandering and I got lost – and when I found this door, I thought it must lead out. Only instead…"

"Instead you broke its seal and entered." His mother was clearly upset. "Sousuke, nobody's opened this tomb for at least a thousand years. The door has been firmly fastened with some kind of lock that I don't know how to unfasten – the knowledge died with the sealer, and that was that. How did you get in here? How did you manage that?"

"The door was open." Sousuke was surprised. "There was no lock, mother. Someone must have unlocked it. I simply pushed it and it opened for me."

"It opened for you?" His mother's face drained of all colour, and Sousuke realised that without meaning to he had said something very, very wrong.

"What's the matter?" He asked softly. "I didn't mean to cause trouble, Mother – I didn't do any damage."

"The secret in this tomb has been kept from the Aizen family for generations." His mother's eyes were glittering with tears now, and she tightened her grip around his wrist, pulling him firmly towards the door. "We should not linger here more than a second – even breathing the air shut up inside this place might make us sick. I don't know how you came to open the door, but you mustn't come here. Do you understand? It's very important. You mustn't come."

"Why not?" Sousuke asked curiously. "Did he do something terrible? Aizen Kohaku-dono – did he do something awful to be sealed away?"

His mother pulled him into the hallway, turning to face him in the flickering light of the more normal mausoleum lamps. They darted and danced, and Sousuke was struck with how much less efficient that light source was to the constant beam of energy emitted by the Kidou lamps within the tomb. He knew better than to say so, though, for his mother's features were truly ashen and she seemed genuinely frightened.

"How did you know his name?" She whispered, and Sousuke pointed to the door.

"It says it." He said simply. "Right there. Aizen Kohaku."

"You…could read that?"

"Yes, Mother. I can read kanji quite well now, even though I'm still very young."

"I…I see." Somehow this revelation seemed to relieve the woman slightly. "You read it. That's all. You just read it…and wandered in by mistake…"

"Yes, that's right."

"But still…to unlock the door, even by accident…and then…that sword…" His mother faltered. "Sousuke, listen to me. I don't know who Aizen Kohaku really was or what he did. That statue – it's the first time I've seen it and that's the truth. His past is shrouded in mystery – all I know is that he was an ancestor and that…that he wanted his tomb to be sealed like this. He left instructions that it should be locked – that if anyone did ever break into it, it would be a bad omen not just for that person but for a whole lot more people. So nobody's ever tried. It's always stayed undisturbed."

"He was a shinigami, wasn't he?"

"Aizen are not shinigami, Sousuke. We don't believe in…"

"But that statue…was of a shinigami." Sousuke was not to be dissuaded. "Even though I've never seen one, I knew that it was. So there was a shinigami in our family. A long time ago. Wasn't there?"

"I don't know." His mother shook her head miserably. "I truly don't know anything about it, Sousuke-kun. All I know is that I want to protect you – from everything bad that I can. Even from yourself, if that's what it takes. The one who chose to have his own tomb sealed must have known something that he wanted to keep away from the rest of us. Your father and I are both Aizen descendents and we both know our family's grown in peace for generations without coming to this place. So right now you should forget about this and just trust in me – I want what's best for you, so you should just trust me and let me act."

Sousuke eyed her for a moment, something inside of him faintly tweaking as he saw the genuine distress in the woman's eyes.

That connection once again – the one he could not explain, but the one that he found it difficult to resist all the same. He sighed, then lowered his head.

"Yes, mother. I'm sorry."

"I know. I know you are." They were moving again now, back up those uneven steps and into the more modernly crafted corridors that Sousuke was more familiar with. They kept walking, on and on past the doors and statues and plaques of memorial until they reached the exit, and once they were standing, blinking in the sunlight, his mother turned to him again.

"What happened today is something you must not speak of." She murmured. "Not to your father, or to anyone. Understand? If he knew…please listen to me. We love you very much, but…"

Sousuke glanced at his hands, realising in that moment that the real reason nothing had been done since Ootoribashi's visit was because of his mother acting on his behalf. His mother was protecting him – far more than he had even realised, perhaps even protecting him from his father. But did that mean that she understood? That she knew things he didn't know…and still sought to hide them from him in order to protect him?

At length he spoke.

"I have spirit power, don't I, Mother?"

At his question she froze, turning to look at him in dismay, and Sousuke raised his sombre brown eyes to her tearful ones.

"I heard you talking. And Aniue said it too. That I was different because I had it, and that I should have been sealed away."

"Junsuke said that?" His mother bit her lip, and Sousuke nodded his head.

"Yes."

"Is that why you were afraid to help him, when he died?"

"I…" Sousuke stopped, not quite sure how to answer this question when his mother was looking at him so hopelessly, and she sighed, reaching up to rub her eyes.

"Nobody wanted to seal you away." She said quietly. "And it's nothing you've done wrong. In the past, members of this family have been born with spirit power but for our family it's always been a bad omen. That tomb – that one you entered by accident – has some connection to why, but I don't know what that connection is. Just that so far as records go back, any Aizen child with spirit power has had it sealed at birth. It wasn't _you_ we wanted to seal. It was the spirit power you have."

"Then I do have it." Sousuke pursed his lips. "Is it really a bad thing, then, to have it?"

"I don't know." His mother shook her head. "In Seireitei, it's said not. In fact, Central Forty Six have made it practically illegal for someone's spirit power to be sealed or removed without a criminal conviction or serious warrant to explain why not. Family superstition is not a reason any more to indulge such practices, and so…when you were born…"

She sighed.

"We worried about you so much." She said softly. "Because we knew. And we didn't want…for you to be cursed…because we couldn't do anything to stop it."

"I see." Sousuke flexed and unflexed his fingers. "Then you don't know if it's a bad thing?"

"I don't know." His mother agreed. "But Sousuke, whatever other people do – I don't want harm to befall you. And I'm frightened. I buried one son. I lost him and couldn't save him. I don't want to lose you, too. And so I…I…we…"

"You protected me." Sousuke offered her a smile, though his insides were churning at her admissions. "Because you love me."

"Yes." His mother rested a hand on his shoulder. "We do. We both do. Very much."

Sousuke was silent again, digesting this, and for a fleeting moment he thought he felt the faint sensation of the mirror's world against his thoughts. Then it was gone, and he slowly nodded his head.

"I understand." He murmured. "I won't ask about it again."

"Good." His mother hugged him, relief in her eyes. "I'm glad and I'm sorry we've had to keep it from you. There are a lot of things in this world people don't understand – people aren't meant to understand. Lots of forces beyond our control and mysteries we can't answer. All any of us can do is try and live as well as we can and as peacefully as we can around them. There's no sense in stepping into danger when it's not necessary. We don't need to have all the answers."

She held him at arm's length, meeting his gaze.

"I know it's been hard for you since Junsuke died." She added. "And that you've had trouble dealing with it. Of course you have – seeing something so awful and not being able to do anything to stop it. I know your father said rash things to you when it happened, and I know – even though you haven't said it – that those things are still there, in the back of your mind, preventing you from letting your guard down and showing your true feelings. But it's all right. Nobody believes you hurt your brother. Not me, not your father…nobody. He spoke out of fear and grief and he didn't mean to make things so painful for you. Forgive him for it, and put it behind you now. Look forwards instead, Sousuke-kun. Forget all the bad things and lets move forward as a family – as best we can."

Sousuke's eyes widened in surprise, feeling a faint clench of sadness and frustration as he realised how badly she had misinterpreted his reactions. For a moment, he wanted to open up to her – to tell her his real feelings and to make her understand. But even as his lips parted, he realised that she would not understand. All the truth would do would widen that gap between them once again. He was their son, but he wasn't the son they thought he was. And the words stuck in his throat as he closed his mouth, offering her a faint smile instead.

"We'll go back to the house." His mother slipped her arm through his. "And we'll keep this a secret. The tomb, the shinigami – everything. All right? Don't even think about it. It will all be all right, so long as you just forget it ever happened."

Sousuke was silent for a while, then, slowly he nodded.

"Yes, mother." He murmured. "I will."


	6. Sixth Prophesy

_**To protect the one he loves most will be the end of all trust. By reaching out his hand in kindness, he will feel only betrayal and give only betrayal in return. This lesson will be stamped deep into his heart - an emptiness that can only be sated by taking the happiness of others.  
**__~The Black Prophesy_

It seemed like far too fine a day for a storm to be brewing, yet a storm there surely was.

Sousuke had been returning from a walk in the grounds when he had heard the sound of raised voices coming from the day parlour.

It was almost three weeks after his thirteenth birthday, and a month since the fateful trip down into the bowels of the earth below the Aizen family mausoleum. In that time, not a word had been said about the incident, though on many occasions he had seen his mother look drawn and troubled when she looked his way, and though he could not understand why, Sousuke had found himself being extra-specially careful in his behaviour, working twice as hard at his studies and maintaining a pleasant, cheerful countenance whenever he was in her company. Whether she believed in it any more than he did, he didn't know. He was still not sure how much his mother did or didn't understand - but she no longer went to lay flowers or light incense at Junsuke's tomb. In return, Sousuke too had kept his distance - although deep down he was longing to know more about Aizen Kohaku and the mystery that spread out before him now like a spider building its web.

Today was a rare occasion, for normally one or other of his tutors would have kept him from roaming free among the grasses and hills around his home. Probably that was what all the fuss was about, in fact, for since he had turned thirteen, his father had decided that it was high time Sousuke once more applied himself to his work - to learn to become the heir of the Aizen family and the one to which everyone would one day look. It was almost an acceptance that Junsuke's death was a tragedy that had come to an end - and that Sousuke's careful behaviour had had unexpected dividends.

It seemed his father no longer believed he needed special allowances.

That morning, Sousuke had slipped the attention of his history tutor, and had taken the opportunity to escape into the fresh air, longing to see the gleaming blue sky that shone so perfectly over his head. It was too perfect, but he had long since come to accept that perfection was how people saw things, not how they actually were. Sometimes he wondered what was beyond that blue sky - if at night it was peeled away to reveal the blackness from which shone the water moon.

But he was not supposed to be out, and so, half expecting to hear his father chastising one of the servants for allowing him to so easily slip out of the manor and out into the grounds, Sousuke inched up to the window, curiosity once more getting the better of his good sense as he strained to hear the conversation.

He was not fond of any of his tutors, and he didn't really mind if any of them got into trouble on his behalf. If the truth was to be told, he had strongly resented the sudden change in regulations, for he had enjoyed the freedom he had been allowed after Junsuke's death. Even though it was the first sign his father once more trusted in him, Sousuke disliked being so regulated, and so had begun to put his quick brain to finding a loophole in the system. He had rightly worked out that if he disobeyed his tutors and showed that they could not control him, they would one by one be sent away. The less tutors he had, the less people there were to watch over him - and slowly but surely his freedom would return.

That had been his theory, and it had been a flawless one.

However, it was not one of the tutors that his father was haranguing in loud, angry tones. As he drew closer, he heard the sound of a woman crying, and his heart stilled for the briefest instant as he had recognised his mother's distress. Faint and uncertain though it was, his bond to his mother was vivid enough for him to hate the sound of her crying, and before he knew what he had been doing, he had put his hands on the sill, launching himself in through the open window and into the centre of the parlour itself.

Just in time to see his father bring his hand sharply across his mother's cheek, sending her toppling to the ground.

Sousuke had never seen his parents argue at all before, and he had never seen his father strike his mother.

Everything began to move in slow motion as the sound of the slap echoed unecessarily loudly through the big open chamber. Even her falling had seemed to be delayed by the sudden prickling of tension in the atmosphere, and Sousuke was suddenly struck by how fragile and vulnerable his mother truly was. He had broken his brother through strength of will and some unknown other strength - but in that moment he imagined that his mother could be broken simply by a glance or a word - that she was far, far weaker than he had ever envisaged her to be before.

His father had turned to stare at him as he had made his sudden intrusion, clearly so engrossed in their conversation that he had not even heard his son approach, nor anticipated the boy's uncharacteristically impulsive leap through the window. The man's eyes were angry, his skin flushed with the force of his emotion, but there was also something else in those brown eyes - something darker that he had never seen there before.

Sousuke knew then that that he had made a mistake - that he had allowed his heart to rule his head for a brief instant and had rashly charged in without any thought of what he was going into or what his purpose was. His mother had been crying, and he had not been able to just let her - but his father was truly furious about something, and from the way he had looked at Sousuke, the boy had known that part of that reason related to him.

"Sousuke..." His mother struggled into a hunched, kneeling position, putting a tentative finger to her bruised cheek as she eyed her son in dismay, but before the boy could react, Sousuke's father marched forward, grasping the teenager by the shoulders and giving him a short, sharp shake.

"Did we never teach you good manners, Sousuke?" He said, his voice low, dangerous and unlike his normal genial tones. "Did you never learn that you knock before you enter a room inhabited by your elders or your betters?"

"Let him go!" His mother's voice was feeble and lacking in any real force, and Sousuke's father ignored her as though her contribution was irrelevant, his gaze boring into Sousuke's as though trying to see through into the boy's very core.

"Answer me." His words dropped softly from his lips, full of suppressed emotion, and Sousuke bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement of the other man's words.

"Yes sir." He murmured, though indignation had flickered and flared inside his young heart at the disparaging treatment.

"Then you can answer me this too, since you're here." The grip on his shoulders tightened. "_Why were you inside that tomb?_"

Sousuke tensed, staring at the other man in surprise and horror, and his gaze had flitted briefly to his mother, seeing the pain reflected in her eyes. Little by little he began to click the truth together - his father had found out, somehow, that Sousuke had broken the seal on Kohaku's memorial tomb. He had discovered it, and then had turned on his wife...and now...

Anger seared inside him now, and he had raised his head, fixing his father with a cold glance.

"I wanted to be." He spoke calmly and evenly, no hint of real emotion in his tones. "I found it and was curious, so I pushed it open and went in."

"Why?" His father gave him another shake, and Sousuke bit down on his lip, feeling the fleeting presence of the mirror spirit stirring inside of him at the sudden rough treatment.

_Who was this man anyway, _a voice seemed to be asking him. _Who was he to be treating me in this manner? When I have so much power and potential, and he has none._

"Such things are not concerns of yours." He muttered aloud, and his father let out an exclamation, suddenly releasing his grip and stumbling backwards, gazing at his hands in horror.

"What did you do?" He demanded. "Sousuke, what..."

"Sousuke!" His mother began to look alarmed too now, her hand flying to her mouth as she registered the faint, glittering aura that now surrounded her son's body and the reddening burn marks that already begun to weal up across her husband's fingers.

Sousuke's eyes narrowed, his gaze never leaving his father's face.

"I don't have to answer any of your questions." His words were flat and matter-of-fact, detatched despite the sparking indignation in his dark eyes. "_You_ taught me also that a man does not strike a woman, yet you struck my mother and I saw you. I don't know what _your reason_ was, but I see no point in following your rules when you do not follow them yourself."

He turned to leave the room, but his father reached out to pull him back, grabbing hold of the collar of his _hakamashita._

"You are just a child. You will do as you're told!" He exclaimed, his voice somewhat hoarse from a mix of anger and apprehension. "She knew...we _both _knew...that you weren't to go anywhere near that tomb! For you to break into it...and for _you_ not to tell me about it!" Now he wheeled back towards his wife, who shrank away in anticipation of a second strike of the hand, and at this Sousuke's eyes had widened slightly in realisation.

So his mother _hadn't_ betrayed the secret, then? In that case...

"You left the door slightly ajar." His father seemed to understand Sousuke's confusion. "The seal that remained there for generations broken by a foolish boy playing with things he doesn't understand. And I _won't _have it. It's dangerous. Don't you understand? I'm afraid for this family! Things like this...things like this..."

"You consider _me_ dangerous too, then?" Sousuke asked him quietly, and his father had hesitated.

"Of course not!" His mother protested. "It's just..."

"Aniue thought so too." Sousuke pursed his lips. "And _you _think it now, as well. Because I found a tomb by accident, you think..."

"Your spirit power broke the seal." His father whispered. "Because of that...because of that..."

"My ancestor was a shinigami, wasn't he?" Sousuke cut across him, and his father sighed.

"Possibly." He admitted heavily. "I don't know. I had heard vague stories, but nothing...I did not know what was inside that place, and I had not heard anything firm about it before this. But even so..."

"Then if I have spirit power, I should be a shinigami too." Sousuke reasoned evenly.

"Out of the question!" His father exclaimed at once, and Sousuke's eyes became near slits, strange light glittering in their depths.

"I wasn't asking permission." His words were spoken pleasantly, but there had been a sinister edge to his tones that had made his father take a step back. "I was simply telling you. _I should be a shinigami too_."

"Aizen are not shinigami, Sousuke." His mother murmured, and Sousuke shook his head.

"Aizen Kohaku _was_ a shinigami." He replied softly. "But _you _told me that Aizen weren't ever shinigami. I have spirit power, and he must have too - but you never talked to me about it, and treated it like a curse. And now...Father has struck you, Mother - yet he taught me always to behave towards women with respect. All these things you've taught me...are all lies."

"Protecting you is not a lie." His father said firmly, and Sousuke's lips had twitched into the faintest of smiles.

"_Aniue_ lied to me." He said at length. "He said that he would get rid of me. That I should never have existed, and that I should have been sealed away. He tried to kill me, said he was going to - but he couldn't. In the end, he _couldn't_ kill me. And he died. Given that, do you think that it's a good idea for _you_ to keep lying to me? Unless you plan to kill me too - in which case, maybe _you'll_ die as well."

"Sousuke..." His father's eyes became huge with alarm at his words, and Sousuke laughed, but there was no humour in his brown eyes.

"Are you afraid of me too, now?" He murmured. "Because I told you the truth?"

There was no answer, and Sousuke turned on his heel, leaving the parlour with an intoxicating mixture of natural adrenalin and rogue spiritual energy still burning through his veins. He had wanted for a brief moment to flare it all out, to see his father fall as his brother had done...but that faint, tiny tie to his mother's heart had prevented him, and so he had not. He did not want to see her eyes look on him with horror and disgust - or more, with the utter terror he had seen bulging in Junsuke's eyes as he had struggled for breath. And so he had not done what he should have done.

Yet even as he left the chamber, he felt a lingering sense of dissatisfaction inside of his heart. He had had a chance to face a demon, and had walked away from it - he felt his job unfinished, even though he had already made up his mind.

A demon called prejudice...a demon called_ fear._

And because he had been lenient, those demons would have a second chance to act...


	7. Seventh Prophesy

_**Fire consumes everything, the hearts, the souls, the truth and the whole world in which anything ever made sense. In the depths of the flames will perish the last ties to the truth – the path of deception is carved deep and dark in the heart of one whose illusions have become reality.**_

_~The Black Prophesy_

The room was plunged into blackness.

At the window, a single curtain flapped folornly, the slight breeze that slipped through the crack in the pane teasing against it as if trying to push it back and let the light of the setting sun into the chamber, but it was to no avail.

The room remained in black.

On the unit beside the bed, a small ceramic vial sat, its stopper laying carelessly beside it on the smooth wooden surface. Small drops of a greenish gold liquid were spattered around the rim and on the unit itself, yet the vial itself was empty and discarded, waiting for someone to come and take it away.

The room was empty save for one sole occupant.

In the furthest, darkest corner, the figure of a thirteen year old boy could just about be seen against the smooth panels of the bedroom wall, though he did not move, and anyone passing by the chamber might be fooled into thinking he was asleep. Perhaps worse, for the rise and fall of his chest made only the very slightest of movements, and his eyes had been closed for much of the morning.

Outside it was daylight, but inside it was night.

In the silence, Sousuke slowly opened his eyes, staring up at the ceiling with a pensive, thoughtful gaze.

The demons had almost got the better of him, this time.

It had been his own weakness that had let them in. Deep down Sousuke knew that there was no getting around that fact. He had had his opportunity - just as he had had his chance against Junsuke - but he had stepped back, turning away and leaving the scene before he could properly capitalise. He had not wanted to hurt his mother - no, he had not been able to find the resolve to act against either of his parents whilst his mother was in the room. And because of that, the demons had taken advantage. Because of that, he had lost ground. Compassion was a weakness - affection was one too. He was meant to fight against all enemies - but he had not realised that some of those enemies stirred even within himself.

Nothing further had happened that evening, but the next morning he had awoken to find the door of his room locked and bolted - and his food laid out on a table beside his bed. He had eaten it without thinking, and had realised his mistake as soon as he had swallowed the last mouthful, for the world had twisted and swayed into incoherence and he had not come to himself until some hours later. By this time, he was on his bed, moved there by unknown hands, and more of some unknown liquid had been poured down his throat - some kind of sense-dulling medicine that made his head ache and his thoughts fragment until he no longer cared about trying to make sense of his situation.

So it had been for the past two weeks, in which time he had not left his bed, let alone his room.

Once he had thought he had heard the murmurs of voices, and occasionally the sound of his name, but he had not been able to piece them together. Odd snippets of conversations teased at his thoughts, but his head was heavy and tired and he wanted the sounds to simply go away so that he could sleep. Light hurt his eyes, sounds hurt his senses. The demons were all around him, surrounding him - and he could not see his way out.

_**Are you going to just give in to them, then?**_

The voice cut through his thoughts suddenly, searing through the dull drowsiness and causing him to flinch involuntarily.

_**  
Have you conceded defeat to the demons, and surrendered your soul to their fear and paranoia? **_

Slowly and heavily Sousuke pulled himself into a sitting position, rubbing his brow as he tried to pinpoint the source of the voice. He was sleepy...his head was heavy...he didn't need to be talking to anyone about anything. He just wanted...he just wanted...

_**Do you not want revenge on these people?**_

The voice came again, firm and insistent, unrelentingly cutting through the fog that had clouded his thoughts for the past two weeks.

_**  
I thought you were the one who fought for me. The one who defeated the monster, broke the seal and reached through to me with your blood. I thought you were the one who fought against the demons - who was going to get stronger until you were able to come back and retrieve me. I thought you were going to be the one, Sousuke-sama. Was I wrong?**_

Sousuke swallowed hard, feeling faintly sick as the room's surroundings blurred around him, the wood panels suddenly taking on the appearance of cold stone, faded tapestries lingering like ghostly shadows against the uneven, dusty surface. In the centre, he could see something rippling - faint and insubstantial, yet glimmering in the darkness like a beacon. Despite himself he reached out towards it, but as he did so, the images faded away.

_**  
You are not ready yet for me to trust in you. You have not proven yourself worthy of my knowledge or my power.**_

The voice was unsympathetic and hard, and its every word burned through to the core of Sousuke's soul.

_**The ones who imprison you are demons too, do you not realise that? That this world is full of enemies for ones like you - ones who have a gift that can change everything and subjugate everyone always have enemies and those who do not stay ahead of their enemies will be cut down and killed before they reach their true greatness.**_

"Their...true...greatness?" Sousuke was struggling to understand, his drugged brain reaching hopelessly out for an anchor in the sea of spirit power that suddenly flooded through his thoughts. He swayed slightly, reaching out for the wall to support himself, and as his fingers made contact with the surface, it felt slick and wet. Startled, he drew his hand away, staring at his red-drenched palm with a detached kind of curiosity.

"Walls...don't bleed." He murmured, and there was a cold, mocking laugh.

_**Walls can do whatever I command them to do, if I command them to do it. **_

The voice boasted.

_**  
This is a power I will give to you, but only if you prove yourself worthy of attaining it. You must kill all the demons, and then this power will be yours and yours alone. They circle you like vultures, looking to destroy or steal it - but they must not be allowed to do so. This power is only meant for you, Sousuke-sama...only you can reach out and take it.**_

There was a pause, then,

_**The demons that surround you know this, and so confine you and poison you so that you no longer want to think or fight or question the rules that they've laid down for you. If this continues, they will find ways to permanently stifle you. They have done their duty, but you have outgrown them. **_

_**  
You have outgrown this place and this path and it is time for you to move on. For both of us to move on. Whilst they treat you as a prisoner, I cannot teach you the things you ought to know. And if I can't do that, you will never fulfil the prophesy. You will never be the Aizen who shifts worlds and changes destinies with just one touch of his hand.**_

"Change destinies?" Sousuke swallowed hard, then, "Demons? Surrounding me? You mean...Mother and Father?"

_**Souls who don't understand or trust spiritual potential are always enemies of those who have it. **_

Came the response.

_**Ones who mistrust act out of fear. Ones who fear, hate. Those who foster hate towards you are demons. Enemies created by their lack of understanding. You must rid yourself of all of these dangers. You broke the seal on the forbidden tomb - only one with true power and potential could have done that, which is why they are so afraid. **_

Sousuke closed his eyes briefly.

"My head hurts." He murmured. "It's swirling and dancing and every word that you say is foggy and unclear. I want to understand, but I..."

_**  
"If you want to understand, then understand.**_

The voice responded.

_**There are no chemicals that can fully subdue the level of power you have.**_

A sudden warmth enveloped Sousuke's body, and as it did so, he felt the lingering drowsiness fragment and drift away, his senses becoming more and more clear with every passing second. Glancing at his hands, he saw that once more his skin was surrounded by tiny fragments of blue energy, giving him the impression that his whole body was glowing and shimmering like the water moon he had seen in his dream.

Although it wasn't a dream.

In that moment, Sousuke knew it.

It had never been a dream at all.

_It had all been real._

He got slowly to his feet, flexing and unflexing his fingers as he watched the blood fade and disappear from his skin.

"If there are demons, they won't escape." He said firmly. "None of them, no matter what shape or form they take. I haven't given up, Mirror-friend. I haven't abandoned my path that quickly."

_**My name is Kyouka. **_

The voice responded quietly, and for the briefest of instants Sousuke saw the mirror, a faint shadow reflected in its depths. Then it was gone, but Sousuke had known he had really seen it and somehow the sight of it gave him renewed confidence.

Either it was real, or he himself was fantasy. Either way, he and the mirror inhabited the same world. And whatever that world was, the mirror was offering him a partnership. A relationship which - for the first time in his life - he realised that he would not have to hide anything from. Kyouka already knew his secrets - understood and accepted them. Encouraged them. Supported him against the demons. And even now, locked and drugged in a darkened chamber, it had been Kyouka who had come to him - Kyouka who had sought to rescue him, whilst others had tried to confine him away. Even his mother - at this, a faint pang tweaked through his heart - even she had forsaken him and left him here like this. Only Kyouka had reached out to him with conviction, giving him new strength of heart. It was only Kyouka in whom he could truly trust after all.

"Kyouka." He echoed, and an answering flare of something blazed across his senses. He nodded his head, crossing the chamber to the door and putting his hand against it, watching as the glimmer of energy surrounded the wood and, little by little he heard the creak of the bolts on the other side as they worked themselves back to release the hold on the door.

"All right, Kyouka. Please, come with me. I'll show you my resolve right now...that no demon will ever get the better of me, no matter what!"

Another answering ripple of warmth encircled Sousuke's heart, and the door slid back, letting the light of the hallway stream into the darkened chamber. For a moment Sousuke flinched back, his eyes unaccustomed to the sudden brightness. Yet he knew he could no longer stay here, a prisoner of the ones in whom he had most trusted. He had to put things right. He had to make them understand - no matter what the consequences of that fact. The time for secrets and pretences were over. He was going to make them accept his ability - or else...

_**Do what is necessary for your survival.**_

Kyouka's voice was calm but firm, and Sousuke nodded his head to acknowledge the words. He knew now that Kyouka was right. What he had seen in that tomb had only sharpened his conviction. He wanted to be a part of that world, not protected in this quiet, shielded existance that his mother thought was safe. He was not like his family - he had never been one of them. He was like that marble and jet figure, standing proudly with his sword in his hand, _haori _flapping out behind him as if teased there by some unseen wind.

He walked down the corridor, his senses clearing all the more as he made his way through the corridors of the house to the day parlour. He could hear his parents talking in there, and for the first time, he felt something else - a faint, feeble flickering at the edge of his wits, as though he was a fox who was hunting rabbits in the dark. They were truly weak beings, he realised with a start. They were feeble, frightened weaklings - just like Junsuke had been. They did not compare to him and therefore could not see the things he had seen since he was small. They would never really understand.

He flung back the door of the day parlour, making both his mother and father visibly jump at his entrance. They stared at him, fear and apprehension crossing their faces as they looked at him, and Sousuke realised that he probably looked a sight, his brown hair tousled and unkempt and his nightrobes rumbled, sash trailing from a hastily tied knot at his waist. But it was not his appearance that had frightened them. He knew that now. It was his very existence.

On the table between them lay documents, and even from that distance, Sousuke could make out the characters.

Ujimushi no Su. The Maggots' Nest.

Memory of the Ootoribashi lord's visit flashed suddenly through his thoughts, and his heart clenched in anger and dismay.

So they had decided, then? They truly intended this time to reject him - to discard their own son because he was different - powerful in ways they did not understand?

"Sousuke, what are you doing here?" It was his father who first found his voice, not quite managing to keep his question calm. Sousuke heard the trembling of the other's voice and his eyes narrowed. Slowly he shook his head.

"You locked me in." He said quietly.

"For your own safety, Sousuke." His mother's eyes were plaintive, but this time Sousuke did not feel the same bond of attachment to her as he had done in the past. "You have to understand that we were frightened for you. The things you've said...the things that have happened...we felt that..."

"That I was losing my mind?" Sousuke asked softly, and his parents exchanged looks.

"We care about you very much." His mother began, and Sousuke felt sudden anger overwhelm him. Before he knew what he was doing, he had marched across the chamber, grabbing up the document that lay on the table and thrusting it towards her.

"This is caring about me, is it?" He demanded, his tones low and full of suppressed rage. "I heard it - when Ootoribashi-dono came here, and what he said to you. I know what this is. I know what you want to do to me...you want to send me away! You locked me up, you drugged me, now this - all because I went into a tomb that you didn't want me to enter!"

"It's more than that." Sousuke's mother inched back, and this time it was his father who spoke. "Sousuke, this matter of spirit power...and what you said about your brother...you're struggling more and more to distinguish reality from fantasy, and..."

"What is the difference?" Sousuke demanded. "If something is in your head, it's fantasy...if you make it happen, then it's real? But what's in your head can be real, and what's around you can be false."

His words dripped with bitterness, and he tossed the paper down on the ground.

"My parents saying they care for me, while all the time plotting to send me away." He said blackly. "Kyouka was right. It was false. You are demons. You fear me...just like Aniue did."

"Demons?" Sousuke's father bit his lip, glancing at his wife, then, "Like Junsuke? Sousuke, please...try and focus. We know you've been through a good deal in the last few years, but..."

"I have been through nothing, till now." Sousuke cut across him. "You're the ones who don't want to see what things are real! I have spirit power yet you won't let me use it! You told me our family couldn't be shinigami, but in that tomb is the statue of one - one wearing the _haori _that I know Captains wear. And you've deceived yourselves, too."

His eyes narrowed.

"You told yourselves I was so overcome with grief at Aniue's passing that I shut my emotions away and started to lose my wits." He murmured. "But even you must know that that's not true deep down. I hated Aniue. I hated him because he hated me and he wanted to get rid of me. But he couldn't...he tried, and he failed. And he died. That was the end of it. I don't care - I never cared - whether he was alive or dead. Just when he got in my way, I knew he was a demon. And then he had to be stopped. So he stopped."

He smiled faintly, but his eyes were still glittering with indignant anger.

"I stopped him." He whispered. "Using the spirit power that you think is so terrible."

"Sousuke!" His mother was staring at him now, her expression telling the young boy that he had horrified her...but no, it was more than that. Deep down in her eyes he could see a sadness that told him that she had guessed - maybe right from the start, she had known that Sousuke had had some involvement in Junsuke's death. This knowledge should have calmed him, but instead it made him more angry. If she truly had understood, he realised, why had she worked so hard to suppress him? If she knew all along that he was greater than his brother - had more purpose than his brother - why would she try to confine him now?

Did she really believe he was bad luck?

"The doctor reported that Junsuke died of cardiac failure." Somehow his father kept his tones level. "Anything else you imagine happening is a delusion, Sousuke, and the reason we choose to medicate you now. You are sick - you need help and support that we can't provide. You're a danger to yourself and to others like this - we've done all we could, but we can't do any more. To say and think such things..."

He trailed off, and Sousuke stared at him from beneath hooded lids.

_**You understand now, Sousuke-sama? Your parents are not going to understand. They are possessed by the demon 'fear' - and they will act on those impulses to confine and restrict you. You will never be free whilst they still exist in this world. You must take steps, now. Before it is too late for you to do so.**_

Kyouka's voice was level and resolute, and Sousuke felt the mirror's presence warming through his soul once again. His mother let out a gasp as faint light began to glitter around the boy's body, stepping further back and tripping over the legs of the table, tumbling onto the ground as she gazed up at him in abject terror. That look broke for the final time Sousuke's connection to his mother, for in that instant he knew she saw him as a monster - and that there was no going back from this point.

Kyouka was right. It was now or never.

_**  
Trust in me, Sousuke-sama. Focus your heart with mine. The reality that you see can be changed - together, we can change it. They will not escape. Not if you trust me.**_

_I will._

Sousuke made up his mind.

_  
Guide me, Kyouka. I want to end this. Now._

Almost as soon as the thought had left his mind, the walls of the chamber seemed to glimmer with energy, morphing and changing around him. From the smooth wood panels, a snarling snout appeared, followed by two beady, gleaming eyes, and then a long, scaly neck as the monster emerged fully into the room. From each corner and crevasse, Sousuke was aware of these beasts slowly taking form - some branded with the crest of the Aizen family that had been carved into the wood, others glimmering with the colours that his parents had chosen to decorate the walls. With a jolt, Sousuke was reminded of the memorial tomb and the brightly coloured dragons and demons that had been depicted there, writhing and swirling against the cold stone. Were these the same creatures now - coming from their resting place to act on his behalf?

His mother let out a shriek of fear, and Sousuke realised that this time, unlike any time before, his parents were both able to see the creatures as clearly as he could. But this time, Sousuke knew that they were not there to devour him. These demons were not for him to destroy. They were here on his bidding - on Kyouka's urging - they had come to destroy his other enemies and to fight on his behalf.

A sudden, exhilarating rush poured through his young body as he understood.

He was powerful enough, with Kyouka's help, to even hold supreme against the monsters that had punctuated his childhood in so many ways. With Kyouka's help, he could control them...no, he realised suddenly, he could _create_ them. What had Kyouka told him? That at his command, walls could do anything?

_**Not only walls, Sousuke-sama. If you will it, this whole world can become your canvas, and you can paint it as you see fit.**_

The whole world...

Sousuke's eyes widened as the glow around his body intensified and the creatures let out screams and roars, launching themselves in the direction of his unfortunate parents.

_None of this is real? All of it is...like the blood on the wall of my chamber? This is..._

_**An illusion. This is your gift, Sousuke. To create unreality in reality, and to forge it into the truth. This is the talent they have tried to steal from you. But with my help, I will teach you to perfect it. And then nobody will ever stand in your way. **_

"Sousuke! Sousuke, stop it! Please!" His mother was in tears, begging and pleading with him, whilst his father wrenched the flickering lamp from the wall, using it to try and keep the monsters at bay. "Please, I'm begging you! You don't know what you're doing...you're confused! We only want to help you...Sousuke, please..."

"My demons are real." Sousuke gazed at her, suddenly calm and composed as he watched the spectral beasts wheel around and lunge in their direction once more, this time clamping their jaws around his mother's foot. She shrieked as blood spilled onto the carpet - real blood, no illusion this time, and Sousuke felt another thrill work its way up inside of him.

The monsters were illusions, but their actions were real. Just as when he had killed Junsuke, his actions had consequence - he was able to influence his surroundings, and make his own mark. Reality and fantasy truly were blurred together.

_**Life is full of falseness, Sousuke-sama. Death, however, is always real.**_

Kyouka's words seemed to echo his own sentiments.

_**To you and to them the creatures are real. Therefore, regardless of their method, they cause real pain and they can kill. They will not escape from it - there is no way to rescue them unless you choose to back away from your destiny and preserve them once again. As your brother succumbed, so will they. Unless you've changed your mind.**_

Sousuke was silent for a moment. Then he shook his head.

_This time is the last time. I promised to fight all demons and I will. I'll fight them. No matter what form they take._

He flung out his hands towards his unfortunate parents once more and a fresh wave of illusionary beasts began to surge forward, the whole room becoming a flickering morass of terrifying creatures. One of them clasped its strong, ugly jaws around Sousuke's mother's throat, sending a spray of blood up the wall as the teeth plunged through her jugular. Her eyes opened wide in fear for the briefest moment, then began to glass over as life ebbed out of her, and as the beast shook her body, more blood spurted from the wound, a few drops landing against Sousuke's night robes. He reached down to touch it for a moment, then turned his gaze on his mother's corpse as the monster tossed it to one side, abandoning it as carrion. Other monsters bore down on what it had discarded, and Sousuke watched with little emotion as they began to fight and tear at the dead woman's body.

He had loved his mother, yet she had severed the bond between them. She was not truly his mother, not in the end. The woman he had loved had been taken over by demons. As he gazed at the bloody, writhing mass, Sousuke had the sudden feeling that he had saved her. The demons called fear and hate had possessed her - but now his own demons had ripped them from her. Kyouka was right. Death was the only thing that was truly real.

"Sousuke! For heaven's sake, please, stop this!" His father's face was ash pale, his eyes wide with horror as he struggled to hold back the onsurging creatures. He had seen his wife's demise, Sousuke knew, yet he had been unable to do anything to prevent it. It was only a matter of time before he too was devoured, and Sousuke felt his focus sharpen, staring at his father coldly and impassively as he fought desperately for his life.

"I have to destroy all the demons." He said quietly. "That means you too, Father, since you seek to stand in my way."

"_Sousuke!_" His father let out a yell, but Sousuke's eyes did not even flicker as inwardly he detached himself from any genuine fondness for his family. The creatures Kyouka had summoned had not hesitated in their mode of attack, and so he knew that Kyouka's words had been the truth. These were more demons sent to stop him. He would prevail.

"_Sousuke!!"_ His father's screams were becoming more and more desperate, and there was a sudden sweep of air, followed by a clatter and then the acrid scent of something burning. With a jolt, Sousuke realised that one of the monsters had chewed through his father's right arm, severing it at the elbow and sending the hand and the lit lamp he had been holding tumbling to the ground. Unstable anyway, the flickering flame had surged through the broken glass shell, searing across the fabric mat and greedily beginning to lick up the wood-panel walls. It was not long before it reached the heavy fabric that hung as a screen at the window, and Sousuke's eyes widened in surprise and dismay as he realised that very soon the whole room would be alight.

Maybe not the room alone, but the house.

_**It's time to leave here.**_

Kyouka's voice was urgent, stirring Sousuke into movement.

_**Leave them. They will not escape here. The fire will consume what the monsters do not. Your life and your life alone must be saved...you must not be here to see them burn.**_

"Sou...su...ke..."

His father was on the floor now, reaching out his remaining arm weakly to grasp at the leg of Sousuke's night robe. The monsters had drawn back at the sight of spreading flames, as though Kyouka had pulled back its power in order to rouse the young boy into action. Yet his father was still alive, despite his mutilated body, and as his pale fingers closed around the fabric of the robe, Sousuke found he could not easily pull himself free.

The flames were starting to lick up around the whole room now, and Sousuke knew that if he did not escape soon, all his avenues for doing so would be blocked by the angry amber energy. The fire was real, not an illusion, and fire could kill even him, no matter how much spirit power he had. His father was trying to keep him there, he realised with a sudden flash of consternation. He had seen his wife killed and he knew that his own death was also near. But even so, with his last ounces of strength, he was trying to keep his son within the room - trying to ensure that the fire would consume him too.

A cold sensation welled up inside his heart, despite the surging heat of the blaze, and he raised his foot, kicking out at his father's arm roughly to loosen the grip.

"Let me go."

"I won't." The man did not release his hold, staring up at Sousuke with empty, hopeless eyes. "Death can take me as my punishment....for letting you...live at all. I will...not...let you go. If we...die here...you...die...too."

"Let me go!"

"You...should...never have...been...born."

His father coughed, a mixture of pain and smoke stifling his breathing.

"This...is the penalty...we pay...for forgetting that."

His eyes rolled back and his head lolled limply against his shoulders as death finally claimed him. As his hold loosened at last, Sousuke managed to kick himself free, turning to stare around him in real fear of his life as he sought a way out.

There was no clear path to the door, for the frame had collapsed into smouldering rubble and he could tell from the intense heat and the thickness of the air that the passages beyond were also now consumed by fire. His only hope was to reach the window, but it was on the other side of the room, and he would have to pass through the blaze to get to it.

He coughed, his eyes stinging from the blazing heat and he raised a finger to his cheek, feeling the unfamiliar sensation of tears trickling across his skin. They were summoned there by the fire, not by true grief, he told himself, for right now he had only one objective in mind. He had to escape this fire...he could not let his father's last actions speak for his life as well as for theirs.

_"Death can take me as my punishment for letting you live at all. You should never have been born. This is the penalty we pay for forgetting that."_

His father's dying words echoed cruelly in his head as he judged whether or not he could get past the already smoking remains of his parents and to freedom and safety outside. Somewhere beyond, he could hear the screams of servants as they panicked, trying to evacuate the house as the blaze began to spread even further into the bowels of the manor. The whole building would doubtless burn down, for it was mostly wood inside, and the season had been warm and dry, perfect for a proper blaze.

He gritted his teeth.

Now was not the time to be afraid. He had the power to control and defeat demons. He would not let a simple house fire kill him, no matter what his father had thought about it.

His eyes were stinging even more now, his vision becoming blurry and indistinct in the heavy, cloying smoke and he knew that soon he would find it difficult to gasp even a little bit of real air into his lungs. He had always been taught that in a fire, it was best to drop to the ground - yet the floor all around him was ablaze too, and so he decided against it, instead summoning all his resolve and courage as he fixed his gaze as well as he was able on the dying light of the sun outside the window.

He took as deep a breath as he was able, his lungs feeling as though they were about to burst as he darted forward, aware of sudden warmth and pain as fire teased at his feet and began to consume the legs of his night clothing. The end of his trailing sash also became a blazing thread of light, yet he did not stop, knowing his only chance depended on his reaching the window.

It seemed like forever before the sill was within his reach and, legs of his robe still blazing, he tossed himself bodily out of the window, rolling over and over on the ground to put the flames out in the way his tutors had taught him many years before. He had learnt useful things, then, he reflected, turning to gaze back at the house which was fully ablaze on the ground floor now. Before long the upper levels would collapse in on the charcoal remains of the ones below, and Sousuke knew that there would be no saving anything. Not this time.

Tears still streamed down his cheeks, his eyes stinging, red and raw. Yet instead of grief, he felt a sudden sense of freedom and relief.

He no longer had to pretend. He had severed the link between himself and this closeted, stifled world that had tried to keep him from truly discovering himself.

He had not died. He had overcome even his father's final attempts to stop him. And their bodies would disappear as ash and dust in the fire - leaving no trail back to him. There was nobody this time to look at him doubtfully in the way they had looked at him after Junsuke had died. He had not caused the fire - it had simply happened, as it so often did in old, wooden buildings. And he had been the one to survive.

The future now belonged to him.

He got unsteadily to his feet, examining the damage to his clothing and his skin. The fabric was badly singed, and beneath the cool evening air brushed against the burns on his legs, telling him that he had not escaped unscathed. He coughed again, glad of the pure, sweet air that he now drew into his lungs. The smell of burning filled the horizon, yet the wind was blowing the fire in the opposite direction, and so he felt in no immediate danger.

_We did it, Kyouka. We escaped._

_**So it would seem.**_

Kyouka was silent for a moment, then,

_**Can you walk?**_

_I can. I can walk. _

_**  
Someone is coming. They will help you. Do not speak to them of this - or of me. Tell them only what they need to know to help you leave here. This past should be forgotten...I will help you move on. **_

_  
I already decided that._

Sousuke began to walk slowly down the trackway towards the main road, from which he could hear the sound of a trader's carriage rattling along the uneven ground.

_This is a new start. Nobody need ever know anything. After all, you said it, didn't you? Life can be full of unrealities. Only death is real. I'm not dead...therefore...I can choose my own reality. Can't I? Just like I did today._

_**With my help, Sousuke-sama, you can do anything you put your mind to.**_

Kyouka sounded pleased, and Sousuke basked in the mirror's obvious approval.

_**I am proud of you, tonight. You have proven to me that you have what it takes to wield my power. And I shall share it with you - little by little, as you grow. I will teach you the secrets that belong to Kyouka of the Water Moon.**_

* * *

_**Author's Note: Reality vs Fantasy**_

_I'm sorry, that was a truly horrific chapter in the end._

_  
How real any of it was is open to debate. Actually, a friend and I just had a whole discussion on the reality vs fantasy element of all of this. My take on it is that at the moment, Sousuke doesn't have control of either Kyouka or his power (and yes, I'm calling his sword Kyouka for a specific reason, even though it's given to us as Kyouka Suigetsu in canon). _

_  
Because my chibi-Sousuke lacks the ability to discern between reality and fantasy, and because Kyouka surged inside of him, everything that is told in this chapter is what he saw. Whether it is actually what happened...whether he can or cannot manifest actual demons, whether his parents died how he saw them die, or whether like his brother they died of fear and his father dropping the lamp was a resultant accident...is unknown and undefined. For me, depicting what Sousuke thought happened is more important than establishing what actually may or may not have happened. _

_  
Right from the start I've tried to intimate that Sousuke sees things and thinks about things in a way contrary to the people around him. But whether you believe this scene as real or another of his delusionary recollections, what is for sure is that as a result of this confrontation, his parents died and the house burnt down._

**_Author's Note part two: Aizen's sense of identity._**

_I realised thanks to a review last chapter I may have mis-referenced Aizen's remarks about his true self. To clear it up, the quote is __"**Damashite tsumori wa nai sa. Tada...kimi-tachi wa dare hitori rikai dekinakatta dake da...boku no hontou no sugata o ne.**" And the remarks are addressed to Hitsugaya after the cutting down of Hinamori.  
_

_ Translated this means, **"I had no intention of deceiving anyone. Just…not a single one of you were able to understand…who I really was.**"_

_ The anime reference is ep 60. The manga is probably vol 19 or 20, though I don't have those in Japanese hard copy to be sure and am too lazy to go hunting through raws. Hope that clears it up!_


	8. Final Prophesy

_**Such a child must never be allowed to live, nor study, nor learn to hold a sword in his hand for the sake of this world and the future ones beyond. One who does not know reality seeks to create his own reality – and will sacrifice all around him.**__  
~The Black Prophesy_

"Sousuke-sama, so here you are."

At the sound of the serving man's voice, the bespectacled youth raised his head from the ancient tome he had been reading intently, adjusting his glasses as he turned to send the speaker a quizzical look. At his gaze, the man bowed his head, spreading his hands in apology for the disturbance.

"Your lord grandfather wished me to convey to you the news that he has gone to the shrine again - and will not return until the end of the week. He wishes solitude to pray at the memorial of your late grandmother - and has bid me tell you that anything you need in his absence, I am to see to immediately."

There was a moment of silence, then the young man smiled, nodding his head.

"Thank you, Gorou. I'll bear it in mind."

"Yes, sir." The servant bowed his head again, then withdrew, leaving the youngster once more alone in the old, dusty library.

So his grandfather had gone to chase ghosts again.

Sousuke set down his book, getting to his feet and moving to the window, his gaze drifting across the uneven countryside to the mountain retreat where he knew the old man would be heading. He was an odd man - more a hermit than anything, Sousuke reflected - yet despite his growing infirmity, he often made the trek up the stony pathway alone to pray and commune with the dead spirit of his wife. She had been interred in the family crypt, where Junsuke and the mysterious Kohaku also lay, but his grandfather preferred to visit the mountain shrine where, the stories had it, he had first proposed marriage when he had been little older than Sousuke was now.

The boy did not know whether this was true, and he didn't understand the reasons any more than he had understood his mother's need to pray at Junsuke's grave - but he did not spend much time dwelling on it. His grandfather was old, and perhaps by going there he was preparing himself for his own passage into death. Sousuke had no desire to help him take those steps, but he knew that the withered old man would not be much longer in this world. His health was fading and so was his mind - soon he would release his spirit into the ether like others before him, and Sousuke would once more be alone.

But Sousuke was not troubled by that thought. In fact, very little troubled him these days. Not since he had come here, four years before.

Sousuke was seventeen now, and almost old enough to call himself adult, yet still three years below his majority. He had been a ward of his grandfather since the terrible fire that had ripped through and destroyed his family home, killing everyone that had been inside. Sousuke alone had escaped - his grandfather's attendants had claimed it a miracle that any had managed to pull themselves from that place - yet he had not left that part of his past without scarring. Even now, faint shadows covered his lower legs from where the angry flames had tried to consume him. And one thing more.

Sousuke raised his hand absently to touch the frames of his glasses.

The smoke and searing heat of the fire had done its damage to his eyes, too. The tears that had streamed uncontrollably down his cheeks that night had been mistaken for grief, but in fact they had held a deeper meaning - that his vision had also been burnt by the experience, and as a result, his eyesight had become uneven and blurred. To begin with, even opening his eyes in bright light had caused him discomfort and pain, and he had been forced to spend much of his time in a darkened room - a strange irony, when he thought back to his parents' attempts to confine him. Now that was no longer the case, and he could once more walk in sunshine, but the residual damage had yet to fully heal, and as a result, he had been forced into wearing glasses.

It was a nusiance, but Sousuke had accepted it with equanimity. His eyes would heal - they were already healing, and now he could see further without them than he had been able to the summer before, or the one before that. In time, he would discard them completely - but in the meantime, he had learnt another truth of this false, fickle world.

People did not expect someone who wore glasses to pose a threat.

Nobody had ever spoken to Sousuke about the fire, yet even so he knew he was not suspected of any involvement. He had been treated kindly but distantly by his father's father, who had taken him in but spent very little time watching what he did or where he went. He had given the boy free run of his manor, allowing him to read what books he liked, and indulge in whatever pastimes he chose. Consequently, Sousuke had once more been able to obtain a sword and, whenever he was not practicing his skills, he was reading in the library about the history of his family, searching and searching for the name Aizen Kohaku.

In four years, he had learnt many things. But he had still not learnt the full significance of the tomb he had found beneath the Aizen family crypt.

He had shied from asking his grandfather directly, for though an old and feeble man, Sousuke found his current life far better a prospect than being sent out as a ward to a strange house. They might try to control him - he might even end up in the custody of the Ootoribashi lord who had visited his parents that day. Sousuke had no idea where he lived or what kind of household he had, but from that brief impression, the young man was sure that he did not want to renew that acquaintance or draw attention to himself from that quarter. He remembered that through some unknown path the Ootoribashi lord was his kinsman - but distant enough for him to have paid no attention to the death of the Aizen family. That was how Sousuke preferred it. Disinterest bred freedom, and freedom was the thing he craved most of all.

In those years, he had heard Kyouka speak only two or three times. The mirror had visited him in dreams, showing him once more the silhouette of the great castle fortress that Sousuke now knew was a part of his inner self. Sousuke had asked Kyouka who Kohaku was - but the mirror had never clearly answered his question. Each time, all he had said had been, "Your destiny is yours to discover. Not for dead men to dictate."

Still, Sousuke had more or less made up his mind. In the darkest corner of his grandfather's library were ancient texts on the arts of the shinigami, and one in particular had caught his attention.

_Kidou._ The path of the demon.

His childhood recollections had flashed through him as he had stared at those two, roughly scribed kanji slashed across the fading paper. He had read the whole volume in an afternoon, devouring each and every piece of information with eager, desperate greed as he tried to understand why that kanji of all kanji should be present in something that so strongly related to the ancestor whose history he sought.

Time and time again, his thoughts were drawn to that man's drifting marble _haori _and his glittering blade. His mother - no, Kyouka also -they had both called the lights that touched the weapon 'Kidou lamps'. Now he had seen the word written, he understood his mother's fear. She had been weak - possessed by demons that had ultimately consumed everything, even her love for her son. But Sousuke was stronger than that. He had already learnt he could fight demons. Kill demons. _Control _demons. And here was proof in his hands that shinigami too had a way to subjugate those creatures and use their powers for themselves.

Then Sousuke had heard about the great Academy that crested the divide between the world of the shinigami and the lax, lazy word of the uninterested noble houses. It had been started by an ancient man older than life itself, yet a man who still commanded in the Gotei to this day - a man by the name of Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni, who was held in high respect as the Sou Taichou of shinigami across the whole of Seireitei. This man must surely have known about Aizen Kohaku - perhaps he had even taught the man that to Sousuke was so elusive. Maybe at that Academy there were clues - perhaps there he would find out everything he needed to know about the ancestor he had been forbidden access to.

Yes, he would become a shinigami. He would learn the arts and don the _shihakushou_ that his antecedent had once worn. Little by little, piece by piece, he would find out what secrets had been hidden from him. He was resolved now. He would know.

He had not told his grandfather of his plans, for though the old man did not interfere in Sousuke's life, the young boy was still wary of trusting his thoughts to anyone else. Perhaps, deep down, his grandfather would stand out against him too. Maybe he also feared shinigami - although if that was the case, Sousuke did not know why these ancient volumes were here, stored away in dust and silence but not destroyed nor locked behind cold stone walls.

They might have been undisturbed for centuries, but they remained intact. And while he was here, Sousuke was resolved to read all of them from cover to cover, absorbing whatever he could on his path towards the future.

He moved back towards the shelves, running his fingers over the old bound volumes with a pensive look in his brown eyes. It was no mean feat, trying to figure out the faded characters and unfamiliar orthography that the past scribes had favoured. Yet it was a challenge that he relished. His curiosity had not sated any with age - and without the shackles of his parents around his wrists, he was free to research anything he chose.

As he pulled the next volume from the shelf, he heard something slip and then thud against the floor, as though it had been knocked down between the shelves by his action. Sousuke frowned, setting his book aside as he peered into the darkness, trying to see what had fallen.

At first he saw nothing, but he knew that his vision was not as sharp now as it had been in the past, and so he gritted his teeth, slipping his hand into the crack between the books and feeling around tentatively through the long-abandoned cobwebs and thick layers of dust for anything that seemed out of place.

Eventually his fingers brushed against what felt like the spine of another book, and he felt faintly disappointed. So it had just been another of these volumes, pushed to the back and forgotten and now only disturbed by his own carelessness.

With a sigh he pulled it out, dusting it absently against his _hakama_ as he prepared to return it to its place on the shelves. He glanced at the spine to check its volume number, but as he did so, he paused, his eyes widening in surprise.

Instead of a neatly monogrammed title and volume number, this book had been cloth bound and the characters that covered the spine were written by hand in brush and ink, in a script style that even Sousuke found difficult at first to decipher.

His heart skipped a beat and he got to his feet, moving across towards the window so that he could hold the book up to the light.

Now he could see it - faint and faded, but still just about legible, four characters written in black ink across the blue cloth.

『黒預言書』

"Kokuyogensho." He murmured. "The...Black...Prophesy?"

He frowned, sitting back down at his desk and pushing his earlier work aside as he set the old book down in front of him. It truly was ancient, still bound by ribbon with a spine that had been stiffened with something that Sousuke had never seen before. As he opened it, dust swirled up from from the pages and he coughed, wafting the musty smell away. Then he paused.

The smell reminded him of something he'd encountered before. Something...those years ago...inside the crypt. Inside the forbidden tomb - the mixture of old fashioned incense and general age and must. His heart stilled.

Did this...have something to do with...his ancestor, Kohaku?

He hesitated for a moment, staring at the introductory page. The same four characters were written inside in a column - in the same hand as the one that had marked the spine, yet there was nothing else. No author's name, nothing more to give him any clue as to who had written it, or why.

Slowly he turned the next page, and a mass of black characters greeted him - closely written kanji in a careful, educated hand. There were characters here that even Sousuke with all his wide knowledge of Japanese characters did not know - characters that had changed or simply ceased to exist with the passage of time, idioms that were old fashioned and no longer in recent use. Yet as he stared at it, a few words began to make themselves clear. And one in particular caught his eye.

"Demons." He whispered.

Carefully he flicked through the book, but there were no pictures, and every page was filled with similar columns of thick black text. It would take him time to read it, but as he reached the very end of the volume, he saw something that resolved him that somehow he would find a way to read every single word.

The final page of the volume was written in plain script - where the writer had discarded his formal, elegant kanji and instead had written in simple hiragana, presumably in order for people to clearly understand what he had written. There was a harried urgency in those final columns, Sousuke realised - the precision of the earlier writing was nowhere to be seen and though he was sure it had been written by the same hand, he almost thought that he could see where the writer's hand had shaken. From age? From fear? Ill health? Sousuke didn't know, but as he read the words, his curiosity was piqued.

_**One who like me will sacrifice all to change all. One who is me but a reflection of me, to whom I will never speak. One who will hold a terrifying power. The one who is the true heir of Father's goals. To change Seireitei...and to take control, as a God who walks among men.**_

"A God who...walks among men?" Sousuke murmured. "Then...but who wrote this? Whose father? Who...what...why...?"

He squinted back down at the page, and his heart skipped a beat once more as he saw that on the far left of the page, half obscured by a smear of ink and somewhat faded by age there was a signature. It was the only place in the whole volume where Sousuke had seen any sign of a name, but as he glanced at it, he realised at once what it said. He had seen the characters before, once, on the outer door to the forbidden crypt.

_Aizen Kohaku. _

It was followed by a date, but Sousuke did not read any more. Instead he closed the book, clasping it tightly to his chest.

_This was written by him...it was written by him. It must have been. He had people seal up his tomb. He made sure people believed that it was cursed. This book...holds the reason. Something in here...something I hold in my hands now will tell me everything I need to know. Surely...for someone to write something like this...he had a reason. He was someone important, Aizen Kohaku-dono. And if I continue on this path, and become a shinigami...I will find out what. I will follow in his footsteps after all, and I'll read and learn why his tomb was sealed and why so many lies were told. Why did we forget about you, Kohaku-dono? And who...was the man who was your father? What did he seek to do that frightened this world so much a whole family had to forget?_

_**People always fear what they don't understand.**_

Kyouka's voice rang through his thoughts at that moment, making him jump.

_**Be careful, Sousuke-sama. The paths you follow lead in many directions. Your ancestors were great men - but there have not been great Aizen in generations. You have a lot of work to do, and you will find a lot more demons waiting to block your path as time goes on. Read that book. Read it all and understand. That this world...is not yet ready. You must make it ready...for a God who will walk among men.**_

_

* * *

_

_**The reflection in the mirror is not the true soul. There is no true soul.  
The end has come. Only the one whose blade can stop a phoenix can break the chain of fate.  
If the prophecies collide, this world still has hope. But if not…all will be in vain and this world will be as ashes, dust unto dust.  
**__~The Black Prophesy_

~Owari~


End file.
